Midnight's Dawn
by skyfireflight16
Summary: (Pre-series/Pre-canon. The story of Xadia's history before and leading up to the continent's split, and how Elarion met Aaravos. (Elarion is a child, and Aaravos becomes her mentor/father figure.)) Dragons were not kind to humans. Nor were most elves. But Elarion was willing to take that risk. She had to, to save everyone she loved.
1. Chapter 1

Part 1: Sun

Chapter 1

* * *

_Elarion and her blooming flower_

_afraid of wilt, injustice, and death_

_searched in the darkness_

_for his light_

_the eyes of the hungry dragon burned_

\- from Elarion's Poem

* * *

"There are centuries of history.

Generations of wrongs and crimes

on _**both sides.**_"

\- Harrow, Human king of Katolis

* * *

Humans were an abomination.

All creatures of the continent of Xadia - all creatures of the world - were born with magic. Connected to a primal source. A gift from the world, from their blood.

Humans had no such connection. They were born without magic, without the blessing that was bestowed upon every other living being.

They must be cursed, to be deprived so. Deemed unworthy.

Even the insects and worms had magic. The humans were lower than these.

But a human with magic was an even worse abomination.

They were not born with an arcanum, a connection to a primal source of magic, and therefore should not seek one.

It was their lot in life, their destiny.

A human with their own magic?

It was against the nature of things. A crime against the natural order.

It could not be tolerated.

The dragons, the rulers of the sky, the most powerful beings - and therefore the highest - in all of Xadia, _would not tolerate it._

_Humans would learn their place._

* * *

Villagers screamed as fire rained down in streams. Houses - more like straw huts, really - ignited, and people raced out into the streets, clutching their children and their belongings close to their chests. Ashes and cinders, smoke and bits of rubble drawn up from currents spurred by great, monstrous wings, filled the air. Clogged it. Choked her lungs.

She coughed fitfully into her arm as she ran down the street - more of a dirt path - between the houses, trying to clear her lungs. But all that did was smear the black soot even further on her skin. Small fires of burning debris littered the path, and she had to dodge them along with the -

_ROARRRR!_

She screamed and ducked, throwing herself out of the way as best she could. Away from a dark shadow and the bright, red stream that the shadow unleashed.

A dragon - a _sun_ dragon - flew above her. It's fire scorched the ground where she had been standing just a moment before.

She could still feel the heat on her back. She wondered at the fact that the heat alone hadn't ignited her clothes, even without touching her.

Perhaps she was protected.

But she didn't feel protected.

She could barely sense it above the winter clouds and the thick smoke covering the sky.

A lot of good it did her, now.

Of course it was a sun dragon that attacked, she thought derisively. She scrambled back upright and continued running, nearly tripping over a burning pile of wood and straw before righting herself at the last minute.

Her ears were filled with a cacophony of chaotic sound. Crashes as homes collapsed, the pounding of feet, shrieks, people calling out each other's names in desperation. A young child screaming through sobs for his dad.

This was all her fault.

She tried to call up what she remembered, but her concentration was shaky. Her wobbly rune and stuttered incantation only managed to disperse half of the fire that had caught what had been used as a school house. Which promptly was fully on fire again, the leftover half spreading in an instant to whatever parts of the building hadn't been entirely burnt.

She wanted to collapse in exhaustion, even though it was barely evening and she really hadn't been running for that long.

The tears and burning in her eyes wasn't just from the ashes in the air.

"_Elarion!_"

Someone behind her yelled her name, and she turned toward the voice. Her mother ran toward her through the flames, her long skirt fisted in her hands so she wouldn't trip. The woman was also coughing, her face streaked with soot.

"Mom!" Elarion bolted to meet her.

"Oh, thank the stars!" Her mom grabbed her hand, tugging her down another street, one that lead away from the village and the fires. "Come! Everyone is going to the river!"

"But, Mom! I can try to - !"

The woman cut her off. "You are not risking yourself like that, Elarion!" Despite the heat from the surrounding flames, Elarion felt a shiver run through her. They kept running, the girl pulled by her mother down the street and into the open fields. Grass hit their boots as they left the village behind them.

Another roar, one Elarion imagined had the power to make the earth quake if the winged beast willed it so, shook the air at their backs. Her mom pulled both of them down, and they hit the grass on their stomachs. Elarion looked back.

The red dragon was breathing a line of fire at the village's edge, igniting the grass there just beyond the rubble and whatever few beams were left standing, licking at the feet of the people who were just now escaping.

Her mother pulled her up, and they started running again down the shallow slope of hill that lead to the village's water source.

Running, while her home burned like a great bonfire.

* * *

The dragon hadn't followed them, much to the humans' surprise and great relief. It just set fire to the village itself, gave a "warning" breath of flames at their retreat, and left.

It had been early evening when the sun dragon attacked. The evening had now turned to night.

Once the dragon was gone, people had done their best to cart water in whatever container they found salvageable - which weren't many - up the hill to douse the flames. But mostly, the fires had to burn out on their own.

More fires - but smaller ones, controlled - lit up haphazardly all along the river, family groups huddling together around them for light and warmth.

Elarion sat by the crackling campfire, poking and shifting the bits of wood inside the flames with the end of a long stick. Her elbow was propped on one raised knee, her cheek resting on her fist as she gazed into the flickering light, her eyes glazed and distant.

"Elarion. Hey." Her mom's soft voice lifted her from her reverie. She blinked and looked upward as her mom sat in the grass beside her, the woman's skirt ruffling as she settled. "What's on your mind, sweetheart?" Her mom brushed wayward curl's from Elarion's face and tucked them behind her ear.

Elarion sighed heavily. "Besides the obvious?" she drawled, gesturing with her head and eyes toward the remains of the village. She moved the stick from the fire and dropped it, then curled her arms around her knees and settled her chin on her arms.

Her mom gently laid a warm arm across her shoulders. "It's not your fault. You know that, don't you? None of this is."

"But it is." She willed her voice not to crack, but to no avail. "It _is_ \- if I _hadn't_ \- " Her words were chopped up by sobs.

"If you hadn't," Mom soothed, gently wiping away Elarion's tears with her thumb, "then we wouldn't be here." Elarion turned to face her mother, slightly straightening, but keeping her hands around her knees. "There wouldn't be half a village to burn. Their choices aren't yours, Elarion."

"I know that," Elarion murmured, her voice airy. She gave a shuddering breath and wiped her eyes. Her mom nodded and smiled down at her, giving her shoulders a comforting squeeze.

Elarion hesitated, then softly asked, "...Was anyone hurt too badly...?"

"No one is dead," her mother answered. "But some people have serious burns." The woman held up a hand, stopping the words Elarion was opening her mouth to say. "They cleaned them in the river. That will do for now. We can do more in the morning." Mom smoothed her palm down Elarion's curls. "Remember what I told you."

Their choices aren't yours. Her mother's words echoed in her head.

And she _knew_ that, she _did_...but.

She couldn't help the nagging feeling that she had brought this upon them.

As her mother lied down beside her, Elarion looked up at the sky. The sky that had just been filled with clouds and smoke.

Now, stars scattered across the clear, dark blue expanse. One, Elarion noticed, shone brighter than the others, blinking like a heartbeat.

Thinking back to a science lesson she'd had at school, Elarion remembered what it was called.

The midnight star.

* * *

Author's note:

So, as you have probably noticed, this is a story about before what I'm calling the Great Xadian Split, based on Elarion's poem and some questions I had: just how long had the crimes/wrongs been going on? When and how did it all start?

I'm not entirely sure what direction I'll take this, but I do have a general idea. Hope you enjoy it!

Please let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Part 1: Sun

Chapter 2

This was not the first time dragons had attacked humans.

Dragon attacks on humans and human settlements had been the subject of stories for centuries. But they were not just stories. Now and then, a village or town – only elves had what could truly be called "cities" – would be ablaze, the dragon chasing down those who tried to escape, several people dead or missing in the aftermath.

A human would leave town to run an errand or just for a walk – and never return. There would be no body. Blood and burnt ground were the only things that remained of them.

The only logical conclusion was that the dragons had eaten them.

Until it no longer became simply a "conclusion," and someone saw it happen with their own eyes, their friend snatched from their side while they were powerless to stop it. Magicless.

But humans were inferior beings, lower than the animals that humans themselves ate. There was nothing wrong with the mightiest of creatures using them to satisfy their appetite on occasion. While this practice was perhaps frowned upon – like an elven teenager getting a bad haircut on a whim of rebellion, to the frustrations and disapproving glances of their elders –, nothing was ever done about it. On this matter, the dragon king himself was silent.

Dragons attacking humans had happened for centuries.

But never like now.

* * *

The village healed and rebuilt.

The morning after the attack, Elarion had seen to the most severe injuries first. Her runes and incantations - _sana hoc ardeat_ – were steady and sure this time. Orange-yellow glowed where her fingertips wrote them in the air, over the severe burn on a young boy's cheek, then her school teacher's arm, then old man Tiren's leg – shining like the sun it drew power from.

_Beautiful. _Elarion could not help but admire it – although briefly this time, not like when she gazed in open-mouthed awe when she cast her first spell – as she worked. And she kept at it, walking about on the grassy hill from person to person, with the blackened debris of her village behind her, until her mother laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and told her that was enough for now, to stop and rest.

The village's reconstruction carried out over a few weeks – it was a small village, with less than a thousand people and even fewer buildings. Debris was swept up and cleared away, wood ashes stored for next year's crop, and the houses, the inn – a human settlement, no matter how small, always had to have an inn: if humans didn't take care of each other, show each other hospitality when they travelled, who would? – the school house, the market place and shops – how everything fit in this tiny village, Elarion had no idea – were rebuilt.

Beam by beam. Thatch square by thatch square.

Another village, almost large enough to be called a town, about ten miles away heard the news and came to help, bringing their skills, tools, and building materials – glass, bricks, stone and plaster – so that Elarion's village was rebuilt even better – and more beautiful, she thought – than it had been before it was destroyed, before the dragon had set it ablaze.

Humans stuck by each other.

Dragon attacks were not unheard of, Elarion knew. And not even only on the human settlements, either. Just lone humans, travelling, or just wandering around, too, would be targets.

It had happened to her cousin's father, her uncle by marriage.

That's what had happened to her own father, too. All that had been found of him were claw marks gouged in the ground, splatters of human blood, and a scrap of the cloak her mother had made him.

Elarion had been only a baby when it happened, too young to remember. But she still sometimes heard her mothers sobs at night, muffled as if her mother was trying not to wake her. Elarion would roll over on her side to face away from her mother, pretending not to hear. She knew her mother would not want her to.

Her village itself had never been targeted by dragons, at least as long as anyone could remember. This had been the first one she had personally experienced in her lifetime.

She hadn't been missing out on anything, that's for sure.

But what was so curious about it was that the dragon turned its back on them before actually making sure it had killed anyone, or actually taking anyone. It hadn't eaten anyone, hadn't even tried. It just burned the buildings down and breathed a burst of fire at them when they fled.

Almost like it had been making a point.

Elarion knew – it _had been _making a point.

She waited for another dragon – or perhaps the same one? she could never tell them apart when they were of the same kind – to come and attack them again. But the weeks drug on, and the village was rebuilt and stayed rebuilt, and life went on as usual, back to normal, back to routine.

No attacks. No fire breathing dragons.

Perhaps that was it, Elarion thought. The dragons had made their point, had shown their displeasure, and would leave it at that. That act of terror had satisfied them.

_Yes. That must be it. _

It wasn't.

* * *

Elarion opened the trap door in the wooden floor, taking out her books. Since human settlements never knew if or when they would be set ablaze, humans had long taken to storing important things underground – her mother practicing this more strictly than some. And these books were something Elarion did _not_ want to lose. So, from the time when she had first gotten them, she'd hid them like buried treasure in one of the many storage places under the floorboards.

As her mother sat in a new rocking chair by the new fireplace, the _small _and _controlled _fire crackling away happily in its confines and warding off the cold outside from entering their house that was now rebuilt with stone, Elarion sat on the floor close to her, spreading out her brown skirts and settling one of the books on her lap – the one with the soft, blue-bound cover that had the sun magic symbol indented in white on the front. She cracked it open.

Each page showed runes for a variety of sun magic spells, with their incantation and a detailed description of what each spell did and what it was meant more. Elarion brushed her fingers over the paper, tracing over the rune drawn in black ink. She whispered the incantation to herself softly, reading the explanation and huffing out a small, quiet chuckle. Then she moved her fingers from the page to the air on front of her.

She traced the symbol in the air now. Orange-yellow lines lit up the space in front of her face, and she smiled.

"Parva luminaria," she breathed.

Small, little orbs of light appeared, floating in the air where her rune had been. She giggled as she watched them.

_Beautiful. _

Just like the first time.

"Having fun over there?" her mother asked.

"Mmhmm!"

Elarion waved her hand to dismiss the spell, and the lights flickered out.

She turned a page, and traced more runes with her fingers, painted more bright symbols in the air, breathed out more strange words and phrases.

Sparks flashed, like small fireworks, like the larger ones she'd seen when the elves had their festivals.

Her hands warmed.

A potted plant in a corner grew, its green brightening, leaves becoming fuller, a few smaller ones appearing from its stem.

All the while, she watched in awe, the giddy feeling in her stomach never going away. Even after almost two years, the wonder of doing magic had not diminished even a little.

_This is so cool. _

Eventually, Elarion closed her books and set them back in their floor compartment, closing the small trap door.

Her mother called her for dinner, and then she had homework to do.

Finishing those, her books came right back out.

An hour.

Two.

Four.

"Elarion, what are you doing up this late?" A sheepish smile, illuminated in hovering light. "Go to bed."

"But –!"

"You'll have time to practice tomorrow. But now, to bed. You have school in the morning."

* * *

The day was cloudy, as it usually was during this time of year. The afternoon sun shone through whenever there was a break in their path, still warm, but no longer blazing. In a few weeks, the clouds would be heavy with snow, and the cold would truly set in.

Not that Elarion was worried, though. The village was plenty prepared and stocked for the winter. She had made sure of it.

She walked along the now-paid street, her boots tapping on the cobblestones. Market stalls lined one side of the street, brick-built rectangular shops in the other, the inn's sign creaking softly as it rocked slightly up ahead. People milled about, chatter filling the air as they spoke of gossip and exchanged money and wares. Elarion weaved through them, headed for a fruit stall. The supply in the bowl on the kitchen table was low.

"Have you heard?" A woman's voice from somewhere close by said urgently. "Dragons have been attacking more settlements!"

Elarion whirled around toward the voice, the basket on her arm butting against her side and the tassels of her grey-brown shawl swishing against her arms at the movement.

It was Sylvia talking to Areli. Both women were somewhere in their thirties, their brown and blonde hair, respectively, tied up in braided buns. Had Elarion been paying attention, she would have noticed Areli's new pale green dress, and

"Seriously?" Areli replied, though her tone was more of a resigned deadpan and a worried one. "What else is new?"

"I'll tell you what's new," the older woman answered. "Five villages and two towns burned to the ground, just in the last two weeks! Remember the how the people from Masonvale helped us rebuild? Well, now they're in the same situation, only worse. A young boy from there ran all the way here just this morning. The poor thing can't be older than eleven. A dragon attacked that village three days ago. At least a fifth of the people died, and when they went to another town for help, that town was also in rubble."

"Oh, no! And that poor boy." Areli put a bruised plum back on the stack. "What did they do with him? Have names been released?"

"The village elder took him in. He'll send out word out to find the boy's parents and send some people to the other settlements to see how we can help. But no names of the dead have been released." Sylvia's voice got soft with sadness. "And I doubt the child wants to talk about it now."

Areli shook her head. "What is even going on with these dragons? An attack every few months or so" – her voice became more agitated – "and snatching people off the roads was bad enough. But this is just…."

Areli continued on ranting, but her voice faded from Elarion's ears. All she could do was stare at the women's backs in wide-eyed horror, her heart dropping to the pit of her stomach, both clenched in cold dread that was hard as stone.

_No…._

_This is all my_ fault.

* * *

Elarion remembered when she had first been introduced to and fascinated by magic.

The spring when Elarion was thirteen, a travelling mage came to her village. All the children gathered around him as the man, somewhere in his forties, dressed in long, flowing robes, showed off small spells. She stood at the back of the crowd craning her next to see over everyone's heads. At some point, her cousin Eli came up behind her and lifted Elarion onto his shoulders. The two smiled at each other, then turned back to watch.

They all oohed and awed at the show. She noticed the man used marbles that glowed in different colors.

Afterwards, she went up to the mage and asked him about them.

"Oh, these?" the mage said, taking three colorful marbles from his soft, cloth drawstring pouch he kept tied to his belt. "These, my dear child, are called primal stones."

"Primal stones?" she echoed. She tilted her head as she gazed at the marbles that rested in the mage's palm. Was that a lightning bolt that just flashed in one of them?

"Yes, primal stones. They carry the most powerful essence of the natural elements, of the six primal sources. This one," he took the lightning marble – no, primal stone? – in his free hand, "is a sky stone. It holds a real, entire storm inside it."

"Whoaaaa!" Elarion gasped, and her eyes widened. "_Really?_ A whole storm? An _actual_ storm?" The mage smiled and nodded. "In that little thing?"

"Most primal stones are bigger," the mage said, putting the sky stone back in his palm with the others and indicating the size of a usual primal stone with his free hand, "about this size. These are smaller versions."

"How did it get in there?"

"That, my dear child, is a secret. But…." The mage held out his hand with the marble-sized primal stones.

"…Can I try?" Elarion asked, hopeful.

"Indeed you can. Here, pick one, and I'll show you a spell you can do with it."

Elarion beamed – a wide, shining grin, and she drew her gaze over the primal stones, looking at each of them in turn.

The one that caught her eye was yellow. It shone brightly, red swirls sometimes making their appearance amidst the yellow glow. She reached out and touched it tentatively, in a manner belying how much she was vibrating with excitement.

"I'll try this one."

"The sun stone. Alright, then. Let me show you." He took the sun stone in his free hand, and placed the other marbles back in their drawstring pouch.

Then, he put a finger to the air, and began drawing. Bright lines of orange-yellow appeared, painted in the air at the edge of his fingertips. "Parva luminaria."

As soon as the mage spoke the words, the lines in the air disappeared, and tiny balls of like, about the same size as the primal stone marbles – maybe even a little smaller – floated in their place, slightly bouncing as if they were buoys in water.

"Whoaaaa!" Elarion breathed. The mage waved his hand, the lights vanished.

"Now, you try." He held the sun stone out to her, and the mage placed it in her palm when she opened her hand, cupping it as if she were receiving water.

She held it in the center of her palm – tentatively, as if she might drop it, then pointed her index finger to the air in front of her like she saw the mage do. The mage nodded in encouragement, and Elarion began to move her finger to draw the shape she'd just seen.

Bright, orange-yellow light appeared in the air at the edge of her fingertips. Elarion inhaled sharply and nearly jumped back, her eyes wide in surprise – _that _worked_! That actually came from _me_! – _but she kept her finger moving. She had to do this.

The symbol looked like brushstrokes of paint on an invisible canvas.

"That's perfect," the mage said. "Now, do you remember the words."

Elarion nodded enthusiastically. "Parva…luminaria."

Instantly, just as it had with the mage, the symbol disappeared. And in its place were floating, hovering orbs of light.

Elarion cheered and jumped, holding the sun stone securely in her palm. "I did it!"

"You are a natural." The mage smiled at her proudly, his eyes fond.

"Really?!"

"Yes, I must say so."

Elarion couldn't help her happy, bubbling laughter. _This is so cool this is so cool this is so cool!_

"Tell you what," the mage said. "While I'm here, I'll let you borrow it." He nodded to indicate the sun stone in Elarion's hand. "And," the man opened the larger bag he carried across his shoulder and drew out a couple large books; on both of there front covers was a large, broken circle with sides that looked like flames, "I'll give you these."

"I can borrow them?" Elarion asked excitedly, taking the books with one arm and cradling them against her chest.

"No, they're yours. I've already memorized all of there is in these books. It's time for someone else to have them now."

"Are you serious?" Elarion couldn't help the startled gasp and look of disbelief.

"Yes, I'm serious."

With a happy squeal, Elarion bounced up and down on her toes and grinned so wide it hurt. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

The mage laughed. "You're welcome."

* * *

Over the course of the mage's visit, whenever she wasn't helping her mother with chores and errands or at school or doing homework, Elarion was poring over the spell books the mage had given her.

The small, marble-sized sun stone rolled between her palm and the wooden grain of the table she sat at, humming to her self in contemplation as she read over the inked script of the open book.

"Back at it again?" Her cousin Eli asked, walking past behind her with a load of folded laundry in his arms. She was spending the day at his house, as she did often.

"Uh-huh! Look," she answered, pointing to a rune on the page, "this one is for helping plants to grow, even without water or fertile soil! And this one –."

"Fascinating," he interjected, half-mocking, half-serious. He stopped behind her chair, hands now empty, to look over her shoulder.

"E – _liiiiiii,_" she griped, turning her head to look at him in annoyance, her dark eyes meeting his pale brown ones.

He relented with a small, indulgent chuckle. "Alright, alright. Why don't you show me something?"

Elarion did, showing him a hand-warming spell. And laughed when Eli yelped when her hand on his wrist got too hot.

"Payback!" She grinned.

He booped her on the nose. Elarion wrinkled her nose and rubbed at it with the back of her hand.

"Seriously, though," her cousin said, "that's pretty cool that you can do all that. You've only been at it, what, three days?"

"The mage called me a natural!" she replied. "And he called my magic 'a blooming flower.' He said if I keep practicing, I could become a master mage, too, someday."

"Nice," Eli agreed smiling at her.

"You know, you should try it, too. It's not that hard. You just have to remember the rune exactly as it shows you and say the words."

"Hmm, maybe," Eli said, his voice holding a tone of contemplation.

And he did. Not as often as she, but now and then, they would sit beside each other, and go over the books, Elarion animatedly reading out the spells' descriptions to her cousin and cheering whenever he succeeded in casting one.

"You're a mage, now, too," she said with a grin of satisfaction, standing by his chair as he completed another spell.

"I guess I am," he replied. He booped her nose again, causing her two scowl half-heartedly and take a step back. "We're now the two mages of our village."

Three weeks later, the mage left, and she'd had to give back the sun stone. But her fascination with magic remained, and she would read and re-read the books he had given her, longing for the day when she would have a sun stone of her own.

* * *

She had been so fascinated by magic, nearly two years ago. It was so beautiful. It allowed her to do things she wouldn't have been able to otherwise. It had gotten her even closer to her cousin.

It had been a good, pure, wonderful thing.

But now….

Elarion hugged her knees to her chest and buried her face in her arms. It was night now, her house dark, illuminated only by the fire in the fireplace. The flames cast shadows she had never noticed before, creeping over the walls and on the table her mother sitting at, busy doing something that Elarion wasn't paying attention to.

_This is all my fault._

As more days had past, more reports of dragons attacking human towns and villages came to her ears. There were fewer and fewer places for humans to flee to, to find shelter.

And the death toll kept on rising, higher and higher. Now it was reaching the thousands.

Mages were being specially targeted, too, several of them – one even very renowned among the humans – ending up dead or missing. One town had been known for its mages. Now it was torched, to nothing but rubble. The surviving mages from there all gone into hiding. A few had even come here, hearing that this village was still standing. Those mages, some as young as her or even younger, never left indoors, and never dared to take out their primal stones. There were even rumors that mages were destroying their primal stones – using them to defend against dragons had been proved fruitless, and only added to the dragons' rage.

Were the dragons trying to kill off all the human mages? Take magic away from humanity completely? Ensure that there would be no more "blooming flowers," as that mage had put it?

She had embraced magic in fascination and wonder.

But now, what she had been so fascinated with brought destruction on her people, on their homes.

She that elves and dragons didn't like the idea of humans having inherent magic. But she searched for it anyway. She had thought she had to; she hadn't seen any other options at the time, but now….

People were _dying _because of her.

Just the opposite of what she'd gotten her connection to magic _for. _

Elarion sniffed as her cheeks grew wet, stifling a sob from her place between the wall and the bed so that her mother wouldn't hear and ask her what was wrong. She wiped her palms down her cheeks, rubbing the skin their to dry them.

It wasn't _fair!_ It wasn't fair that the dragons were doing this just because of this. It wasn't right that they were killing people who'd done nothing wrong.

But they were. It was her fault.

She had to do something.

When she was satisfied her eyes and cheeks her dry enough not to be noticed by her mother, she brought herself up to sit on the bed. Then, sliding off the quilt, she went up to the window, and stared up at the sky.

The starlit sky.

Though cloudy the rest of the day, the sky was clear tonight, allowing the far orbs of light to shine in all their glory.

She remembered learning tales of startouch elves. How they were rare, the most powerful elves in the world. They were wise, and old, like the stars themselves that they drew their magic power from, that were their namesake. Reclusive, like the wise old hermits that the storybook hero would seek advice from for their problems.

If she could find them, if she could speak to them, maybe they would have a solution. If the tales were true, they were the most powerful magical beings next to the dragons – or perhaps even the same level of powerful, if not more so.

Magical power was respect in Xadia. Surely the dragons would respect them, if the startouch elves vouched in her favor.

And Elarion knew that was a _very_ big "if." It was a long shot, a sun-stroke fantasy, some might say, that she would even just be able to find them. And then get them to hear her, to help her?

Most elves were not kind to humans.

But, Elarion thought as she looked at the sky full of stars, full of light, the midnight star pulsing like a heartbeat, the brightest of all among them.

She had to take that chance.

* * *

**Authors note:**

**Thanks for reading! Comments are appreciated. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 1: Sun**

**Chapter 3**

_Elarion, core trembling_

_lay down on an icy night_

_and in the cold _

_pulled at her roots_

_challenging winter's deadly bite_

\- from Elarion's poem

* * *

Humans were magicless.

If they were to be compared to a tree, it would be one without fruit, without leaves. Stark white as winter.

Barren.

But such was their heritage. Such was the consequences of their lineage, their roots.

Rebelling against one's heritage was foolishness.

* * *

_One year earlier_

That year, winter came early and stayed late.

It was also the year of the famine.

The rains had stopped at the mountains before the village, bringing clouds empty of the water their crops so desperately needed, useless for anything except covering over and blocking out the sun.

The few crops that did grow against all odds had to be harvested quickly before the cold set in. And even then, with all the villagers who could working together, many of plants were killed by the chill, frostbitten, the ground frozen hard around the roots.

They had their stores, but it would not be enough. Perhaps the food would last for a month, maybe two. But not through the winter, which stretched it's way into spring.

The other villages and towns would have helped them, but they had the same trouble. And then, when the deep snow fell, and the ice froze the ground and made it slippery, the temperature outside plunging to each a cold only the oldest among them had ever seen, there would be no travel. If starvation wouldn't kill them, then the cold would.

* * *

Elarion shivered, wrapping her winter cloak around her. She could see her breath as she looked at the fields of ruined crops in front of her, the leaves curled and black underneath a layer of white ice and frost.

There was a sun spell that could grow crops without water or anything else. If only she still had that sun stone, she thought.

Her mom's voice called her from the village, carried out on the wind. With one more long look, Elarion turned and went home.

* * *

Turning the pages of her book did nothing. The fire in crackled in the fireplace beside her, Elarion laying on her stomach on the wooden floorboards. She shivered and pulled the blanket tighter around her.

"Why don't you read on the bed?" her mom asked from her place by the fire. She sat in the chair, sowing something. "It's warmer there."

"I'm fine here," Elarion answered. She didn't look up from the pages, turning another one.

There were all sorts of spells for growing plants and healing diseased ones and warming the land.

But she could use none of them. Elarion gripped the edge of the book briefly, the thought of slamming it closed in frustration crossing her mind. But she didn't want to damage the book. Her fingers relaxed, slightly running across the smooth cover. Then, with a huff, she brought her arm up to rest her chin on her fist.

She flared down with narrowed eyes at the text and diagrams in the books, as if they might give her answers, or just pop up out of the page and do the work themselves without needing magic from her to channel them.

"Ugh!"

"Come here," her mom said softly, putting down what she was working on and gesturing with her hand.

Leaving the book open on the floor, Elarion sat by her mother's feet, leaning against the woman's thigh.

Her mom ran a hand over Elarion's dark curls. "I know you're frustrated. But close those books for now."

"I just want to be able to do something!"

"I know. But don't you worry about it. We'll be alright."

Elarion knew her mother was only trying to reassure her. But she was almost fourteen, but four. Elarion wasn't clueless.

They still had enough food now. But how long would it last? They would not be "alright."

That night, Elarion curled up against her mother for warmth from snow storm that was raging outside.

* * *

Elarion nearly slipped on the ice when she stepped outside onto the dirt street.

"Whoa!"

She pinwheeled, her scarf flying and her bookbag slipping from her arm and dropping on the ground with a bounce and a thud.

"Got you!" Large arms wrapped around her under the armpits and pulled her upright. Once rightly on her feet, Elarion turned around to face her rescuer. Her cousin Eli stood behind her. "You alright?"

"Mmm," Elarion answered, picking up her bookbag from the ground. She straightened and rolled her shoulders, slinging the bookbag over one, to hide her embarrassment of nearly falling flat on her face. "Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks."

"You on your way to school?" he asked, looking at her bag. She nodded. "I'll walk you. And make sure you don't fall again." He said that last sentence close to her ear and in a teasing tone as they walked down the street. Elarion screwed up her face and lightly smacked him on the arm.

Honestly. She would have thought that twenty-something-year-old men (boys) would have grown out of teasing.

"How's Aunt Sabra?" she asked, changing the subject.

"My mom's doing fine. Her house needs some repair work because of the weather, but other than that."

"Don't tell her," Elarion said, dropping her voice to an almost-whisper, "but I think my mom's making something for her for Yuletide."

Assuming they would all make it to Yuletide. Elarion mentally shook those thoughts out of her head and tried to outpace them by skipping instead of walking.

Eli let out a soft chuckle. "Aunt Talia always makes her something for Yuletide. But she always appreciates it - Whoa, careful!"

Elarion made it three skip-steps before she slipped forward. Eli caught her with an arm around the collarbone and another hand around her bicep.

"Anyway," he continued when his little cousin had righted herself and stuck to just walking this time, "do you know what she's making?"

"No." Elarion shook her head. "I wasn't looking." She didn't often pay attention to what her mom was sewing, unless her mom was teaching her a new technique or sudden curiosity struck.

"I'm sure it'll be great, whatever it is."

"Yeah."

The school house was now right in front of them. Elarion waved goodbye to Eli, who nodded and waved back in turn, and went inside.

School was still going, despite the cold. Today -ironically after the snowstorm last night - the too-early winter (really, it should just be fall) freezing temperatures had let up a little. So, though still cold, not unbearably so.

* * *

Elarion sat at her desk, which was close to the middle of the room, and stared at the window. Her eyes traced the designs the frost made.

They looked like runes, Elarion thought. A flower, for a spell to grow daises. Then a long swirl, maybe for a spell that could draw sunlight down and channel it into the earth below, just that particular spot of dirt. And then that one could be -

"Elarion!"

Elarion snapped to attention and turned around to face the chalkboard. And the teacher that was giving her a knowing look.

"Pay attention, please. What is to the east of Mid Spring Valley?"

That what the valley their village was in. How ironic.

"Umm...," she thought for moment, but was able to give the answer.

Later during the school day, Elarion found herself in the library. Though it wasn't large, there were still plenty of books on various subjects, either bought by teachers themselves or donated by other settlements -usually the larger ones - or by travelling mages.

Elarion had pulled out several books about magic and about agriculture. They lay open on the table in front of her.

Flipping to a page in a book about magic history and lore, she went still, her eyes narrowing before widening again. Then, she sat down from where she was standing over the table, and took the book in her hands, sliding closer to her on the table.

_Humans,_ it read, _have often been thought to have been denied magic, and could only use it with the aid of a primal stone. However, while it is true that humans are born without an inherent connect to one of the primal sources, they are not barred from one. _

_A human may create their own connection to a primal source. Doing so requires a deep understanding of the primal source: where it is in relation to themselves and the world, and how it affects the world as a whole and those within the world. When this understanding is reached, a human will be connected to the primal source and will have their own inner arcanum from that source. As such, they will then be able to use primal magic without a primal stone._

_Surprisingly, this created connection makes humans even more powerful than most elven mages, even archmages, as these humans would be able to use the primal source without it immediately present. A human sun mage would be able to conjure up a flame at night. A human sky mage may use a wind spell without there even being a slight breeze._

_While not an incredibly common practice, many human mages have done so in centuries past. However, it has long been thought among elves and dragons that humans were not worthy of inner magic, and humans making themselves magical beings was turning against their roots. This practice angered the dragons. To avoid and turn away their wrath, human mages stopped teaching this way of using primal magic, and so the knowledge of this option was lost among the humans, as well as the elves._

Elarion stared. Was this true? Could she really...?

She turned to the cover and the front pages to see who the author was.

There was no name.

She blinked and cocked her head. Huh. That was weird.

If it were true, though, why would the dragons get so upset with humans connecting to magic? Why would they be considered unworthy, just because they weren't born with it? It would just mean that they were growing. Besides, it wasn't any of the dragons' business, anyway.

That part just confused Elarion.

The call came for another class to start, and Elarion closed the book.

* * *

They made it to Yuletide, and then Elarion's fourteenth birthday came and went. But with ration sizes getting smaller, celebrations were meager. School closed for the holidays, but then stayed closed.

Elarion went to bed hungry every night, and the winter had gotten colder, so much so that no one could stand outside for longer than a few minutes.

Aunt Sabra was not doing well. Even with the new winter cloak Mom had made her, she'd always been sensitive to the cold, and the lack of food certainly wasn't helping.

Their valley was called Mid Spring Valley for a reason. Spring usually came much earlier to this valley, by whatever reason of geography or magic.

But when that time was approaching, the ground was still covered in ice, the snow and sleet still fell, clouds blacked the sun, and the cold had not relented the slightest degree.

Aunt Sabra had gotten worse. Eli stayed by her bedside day and night, but there was little he, or anyone, could do, with no herbs left for medicine.

Many others were sick, including several of her classmates. Her mom had started to cough, too, though she insisted she was fine and Elarion had nothing to worry about.

Then the news came that their stores wouldn't last more than a week.

When she heard, she felt a hot flash of panic, and then tears pricked at her eyes.

No. This couldn't happen.

But then Elarion's mind went back to the book she'd read at the school library. It had said that humans could make their own connections to a primal source.

If she could connect to the sun...what did the book call it? Arcanum? If she could connect to the sun arcanum, if she could do sun magic, then she would be able to warm the ground, grow enough food to keep them all alive and healthy through the rest of this long winter, and then some.

But she'd also read that as a human, connecting to a primal source would anger the dragons. Would bring down their wrath.

Dragons were already not kind to humans.

But Elarion had to take that chance. She would pull at her "roots," as the book called them, to save her village, to save her aunt and her mom and her friends, from this winter.

* * *

That night, Elarion lay in bed beside her mother, her growling stomach long since quiet, giving up it's crying. The fire crackled in the fireplace, but Her mom was asleep. Elarion could hear her soft breathing, interrupted by the occasional wheeze and cough.

Okay. The book said she had to understand the primal sources relation and how it affected the world and all that was in it.

Elarion closed her eyes.

_The sun is above the clouds_, she thought. _And it warms the earth. It makes the summer hot, and it rises and sets everyday. It lights up the day, and..._

Elarion drifted off to sleep.

* * *

She woke in a grassy field. The sun shone overhead. The weather was warm, and the breeze was cool. Reveling in warmth and the breeze for a moment, so different from the icy winter, she looked up ahead to see the mountain range, just like the view from her village.

She looked to the side, down where the grass was being swayed by the breeze. A patch of grass was lit brightly in wide, yellow sunbeam. Then, before her eyes, green stems, different from the grass around them, shot upward.

First, they spouted leaves, then bulbs appeared on their tops. The bulbs opened and bloomed into petals, revealing flowers of pink and yellow and purple.

"Beautiful...," Elarion breathed, voice a whisper on the breeze.

Then the sunbeam widened and spread along the grassy field, and everywhere it touched, flowers grew and bloomed, until the field was full of colors.

Elarion nodded slowly, understanding what was happening.

The sun shines on the land, on plants and their seeds, and causes the plants, the flowers, to grow. It gives light and brightens the day.

She felt the heat on her skin. Lifting her head back, she closed her eyes and felt the sun on her face, and the light turning orange and red in patterns behind her eyelids.

_It warms me, too. Warms my skin, and let's me see._

Maybe she was repeating things, but she had to make sure she understood everything. She had to connect to the sun.

Elarion brought her head back down and opened her eyes. Then she took a step forward.

And stepped into snow. Deep snow. She fell forward onto her hands and knees, the pure white coming up to her elbows and making a soft rustling sound and it shifted.

She was wearing her winter cloak now, she noticed. What had she been wearing before?

Not that it mattered.

The sky was deep blue with night, but clear, the numerous stars glittering brightly. Elarion could see her breath.

Another rustling sound came from beside her. A small, white, fluffy rabbit popped up out of the snow.

_Awwww! So cute!_

The bunny twitched it's nose at her, before it hopped down into the snow. It popped back up, and where the rabbit had dived in, there was a round hole in the snow. Elarion looked in hole. In the circle of white, was green. Blades of green grass was growing beneath the snow. Even when the sun wasn't shining on it.

Elarion reached her hand in and touched the grass, touched the ground it was growing from. It was chilled, but it was…it was warm. She could sense a warmth from underneath the soil. A warmth that was always there, no matter the coldness around it. Allowing the grass to grow.

The sun warmed the ground, Elarion thought. Even if this place did not get much sunlight from above - something about the planet's tilt in certain regions? She knew she'd studied that at one point – the warmth spread into the earth from other places where the heat reached it most, until it touched everywhere, even here, in this wintery place. The earth soaked up the sun's warmth, and held its heat, and would hold its heat inside it, store it.

Elarion breathed, and the cold air filled her lungs. But it wasn't completely cold, she knew. Everything had a freezing point. The air stayed in a state so she could breathe it; even though it felt cold, the sun's warmth filled the air, allowing her to breathe.

She closed her eyes, and pressed her hand more firmly to the grass and ground beneath her palm, the warmth emanating from the ground and heating her skin. A rumbling, like the earth was growling, came from deep underneath where she was sitting on her knees. Her mind's eye filled with images of lava, of fire, flowing in rivers beneath the earth, within the earth, bright with red and orange glowing light. Just like the sun. The sun powered this, continued this. It powered everything the earth, and everything on it. Without the sun, the inside of the planet would freeze, the fire and light and glow extinguished, all the lava turned to hard rock.

And whenever she felt warmth against her skin, the thought came to her, spreading through her entire body, the warmth of the sun was inside her, too. Every time she held her hands close to a flame, every time she breathed in non-frozen, non-liquid air. And every time she could see anything, whether by sunlight or a flame, the light of the sun was inside her, entering into her eyes, bringing to her the shapes and colors of the world. Colors, too, all the colors, were made and brought to sight by the light of the sun: the green of the trees, the yellow, pink, violet, blue of flowers, the oranges and reds of the sunset, the blue of her winter cloak. All of it, everything, all the beauty she could see, the images her mind processed and stayed in her memories. The light stayed with her.

Elarion opened her eyes and sat back. She leaned on her hands. The sun was setting in front of her, sinking below the horizon in a painter's palette of pinks and oranges. And then it was gone. Taking it's light with it.

No, it was not gone. Elarion shook her head. The sun did not disappear; it never disappeared. Even when it was night here, it was day elsewhere. It was always daytime somewhere on the earth; somewhere, the earth was receiving it's light and it's brightness. When the sun was setting on her horizon, it was rising on someone else's, on another part of the planet.

It was always day, even at night.

The light shifted. Elarion looked up. Clouds filled the sky now. The sun was overhead, shining faintly in the winter, gray sky. But the clouds crowded and moved over it lazily, blocking out the sun's light.

Then, the clouds parted slightly, and the sun peaked through, showing itself briefly as the clouds slowly travelled across it. And then it was covered again.

And Elarion understood.

Even when the sky was gray and cloudy, the sun was still there, above the clouds. It was always there. No matter where it was or how it was there, it was _always, always_ there.

Heat, warmth, light, color, shapes. Liquid, air. Growth. Fire. _Life_.

Outside of her. Within her. Within everything and everyone.

A part of her, of everything and everyone. It was_ all_ the things.

* * *

"Elarion. Elarion. You need to wake up, sweetheart." Her mother's voice reached her ears through her sleepy haze. She blinked her eyes open to her mom's face looking down at her with concerned eyes.

"Hmm…? Mom?"

"Are you alright, sweetheart? You were sweating in your sleep." Her mom's hand brushed over Elarion's sweaty forehead, gently pushing back stray curls. Oh, she was sweating. Ehy was she sweating? Her skin was damp, the material of her thick, winter night down sticking to her back. The cold air hit the droplets if moisture, and Elarion shivered.

"I'm…I'm okay," she answered.

Then she gasped. Her dream came crashing back to her.

She sat up quickly. "Mom, I've got it! I think I got it!"

"Got what?"

"I connected to the sun arcanum! I understand it! I have to try - ! I need to try something! I'm gonna try something." Elarion threw off the blankets and damp sheets and leapt out of bed.

"Try what? Elarion, get back in bed. It's the middle of the night!" It was clear Elarion was talking to fast for her mom to understand her. But she didn't pause to explain.

"Just come, come with me!" Elarion pulled on her winter cloak over her night gown and shoved on her boots. Then she ran outside.

The ground was still frozen with ice, and she fought not to slip as she ran, to keep her feet sure. Night still covered the sky, but it would be dawn soon, in an hour or two. Not enough time to wait for it. She had to try now. She to see if her dream meant want she thought it was, to see if what the book said was true.

She ran out of the village, to the frozen fields. Elarion fell to her knees on the edge of one of them. The dead plants were iced over, the ground hard. The sun was still beyond the horizon, and thick, night-darkened clouds still choked out many of the stars.

But she knew where the sun was. It was just over the horizon. It was in the heat beneath the earth where she sat, beneath the fields. In the warmth of her body, and in the cool of the air as she breathed. In the dim light her eyes had to adjust to in order to make out the vague shapes she knew would be bursting with color come the sunlight.

Elarion pressed her hands to the frozen, barren ground, to where the dead roots lay. Dug her bare fingers into the icy soil the best she could.

Then she closed her eyes and _felt_.

Brought a hand to the air. Drew a rune with her fingertip. Then another.

"Calidum soli. Crescere ager adtulit."

The ice beneath her fingernails _cracked_.

Elarion gasped sharply, and her eyes flew open.

The soil warmed and became soft, and moist with the melting ice and snow. Her fingers sank into the soil.

Then, stems and stalks shot up from the ground. Green bloomed and grew tall, the crops becoming full and ripe before her eyes. Her intentions must have done something, carried more weight than she'd thought, because all around her, the snow began to melt, and very field - not just the one she kneeled by, her hands in the warm, soft dirt – began to yield its crop. A bloom of color rippling up like a wave across the valley around her, visible in the light of her magic.

_Her_ magic. _Elarion's_ magic.

Elarion stayed there kneeling, practically rooted to the spot, wide-eyed, her mouth spreading into a huge, beaming smile.

It worked. She had done it.

"_I DID IT! WOOOO!_" Elarion leaped up to her feet and pumped her arms into the air. She jumped up and down, even doing a little happy dance.

"I DID IT! IT WORKED!"

She sniffed, and her eyes were wet. Elarion brought the back of her hands, the part that didn't have soil on them, to her face. Was she crying?

She was. They were happy tears, joyful tears. Relieved tears.

She had done it. She had connected to sun magic, and she had saved her village.

Her family and friends, everyone she cared about, would live. They would have enough food. And from now on, they always would. For as long as she lived.

* * *

The villagers came out to see what the commotion was, and couldn't believe her eyes. When Elarion told them and her mom what had happened, they were equal parts shocked and overjoyed. Well, maybe more overjoyed.

Aunt Sabra got completely better, as well as everyone else, and her mom's coughing and wheezing stopped before it could ever progress into anything worse.

Yuletide was celebrated again, now that they could actually have a proper feast. And feast they did. Elarion was able to help the other villages and towns in the area, too, and she both helped them with their crops and helped her village share their own bounty.

Word spread about this miracle and who caused it, and whenever Elarion wasn't busy with school and chores and errands, she would often be practicing sun magic, giddy and excited to do all she could with it.

Little did she know, there were those watching her. Some with less than good intentions, and some with their eyes to the stars.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Thanks for reading! Questions and comments are always welcome!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 1: Sun**

**Chapter 4**

_Elarion, confused, frightened_

_brought her white branches toward the night_

\- from Elarion's poem

* * *

That had been a year ago. A year since she had connected to the sun arcanum and had gotten primal magic.

But now that very thing that had fascinated her, that brought her such wonder, that had saved her village and her loved ones' lives….

…had brought destruction and death down on them. And not just on her own village, not just on herself, but on all humans, and especially the human mages.

But why was that the dragons' business, anyway? What did it matter to them, that the humans could have magic of their own? Why did it anger them so much that they would kill humans for it? Was "humans being true to their roots" so important to them?

All these thoughts whirled around in Elarion's mind. It didn't make any sense, make _any _sense at all.

But logical or no, the fact of the matter was that her people, people she loved, and humans she didn't know, were in danger.

She had to do something about it.

In that same book in the library that told her that humans could make their own connections to magic, she'd read about a place called the star nexus. High up on a mountain top, it had said, where the magic of the stars was at its purest and strongest. Where startouch elves often resided.

But the book didn't say _which _mountain, or guarantee that startouch elves would be there.

But that didn't matter.

Elarion packed a bag with all the necessities for travel on the road – food, which there was now always plenty of, blankets, changes of (warm) clothes, a refillable container of water. Her spell book, of course; this she carefully slid into her bag, careful to cushion it against the bag's side and her clothing. There was nothing like a tent in her village; she'd have to make do with the blankets or an inn along the way.

She didn't know how long her journey would take her, though. Days? Weeks? Would she even find who she was looking for at all? She hoped what supplies she had would be enough. There was some money that she'd saved tucked down into the bag's inside pocket, so she could buy things if need be in any town she passed through.

Though, she'd heard that elves didn't use money. Which was weird – what did they use instead, a barter system that humans had abandoned because of its inefficiency? But hopefully she wouldn't have to venture too close to elven territory, and she had no plans to go into their towns or cities. It was well known elves didn't treat humans kindly.

Ironic, considering who she was seeking out.

It was night now. Her mother had already fallen asleep, and Elarion had snuck out of bed, gotten dressed, and packed her brown travel bag by the dim light of a candle. Packing beforehand would have made her mother suspicious. And there was no way Mom would have agreed to her plan, agreed to let her go.

Elarion swung her bag over her shoulder, across her body. Setting a piece of paper next to the candle so she could see, she wrote her mom a note.

_Mom,_

_I'm going to look for the startouch elves. If I can find them and make them listen to me, maybe they can make the dragons stop attacking and killing us. I don't know when I'll be back. I have to do this. Please don't worry about me. _

_I love you._

_Elarion_

Her mother would think Elarion was crazy, she knew. But even though it was a long shot, longer than a shot from the other side of the world to where they were now, Elarion _had _to at least _try_.

She folded the note once, and placed the candlestick on it so it wouldn't be knocked or blown off the table. Then she turned and looked at where her mother was still sleeping peacefully on the bed, giving her one more long glance. Who knew how long it would be until she would see her again? Finally, she forced herself to tear her eyes away.

Softly blowing out the candle, Elarion quietly went out the door, left her house, her mom, her home.

As quickly and as silently as she could, Elarion traversed down the cobblestone streets, then past where they ended, and set out onto the grassy plain. The night was brightened up stars littering the sky above her, the half-moon illuminating her surroundings enough for her to see where she was going without a lantern.

She made it halfway to the forest, the village still in sight on the horizon behind her, when she heard it.

Oh, no. She knew that sound.

A roar. An _angry_ roar.

Elarion whirled around, breath caught in her throat, her bag hitting against her side at the momentum.

A huge thing of red and yellow blotted out the glittering stars in the sky, one of its wings shadowing the moon in sweeps as they moved in the air.

A sun dragon.

And it was heading straight for the village.

As Elarion could only stand stalk still and stare, the dragon opened its mouth, set with rows of long, sharp teeth, a ball of searing red and orange flames, ready unleash it and set fire to –

_No! Notagainnotagainnotagain NO!_

"HEY! **_HEY!_**" Elarion screamed at the dragon as loud as she could, her voice echoing and carrying over the valley. She frantically whispered a spell – _lux splendida_ – and drew a rune with adrenaline-shaking fingers, then pushed her palm up in the air.

A giant flash of bright yellow light burst from her palm like a signal flare – just what she was hoping it would be.

"_HEY! OVER HERE! I'M THE ONE YOU WANT!"_

The fireball in the dragon's mouth dissipated, and the dragon turned its large head in Elarion's direction, its glowing yellow slit-pupil eyes pinning her with its stare in the dark.

Then it flapped its wings, the air whooshing loudly in the otherwise still night.

Turned its body in the sky.

Opened its mouth full of teeth.

Formed another sphere of roiling flames.

Moved _– flew _– fast, straight toward her.

_ROARR!_

_Crap!_

Elarion turned and _ran. _The forest was ahead of her. If she could get to it in time, be covered by the trees –

But there was no way she could outrun a dragon. Already it was gaining on her – she fleetingly wondered if the people in her village had been woken up by the roaring, if her mother had noticed Elarion was gone – bearing down on her from the sky.

What was she _thinking_? No, she knew what she was thinking – that she had to get the dragon away from her village, away from her mother and aunt and cousin and friends.

A roaring blast of fire streamed down and lit the grass behind her, nearly knocking her off her feet, the air searingly hot at her back, instantly causing her to sweat and for the back of her dress to stick to her skin.

Elarion screamed, and ducked on instinct, her head down and her weaving to the side. Not that it mattered. The dragon had a wide range.

The trees were getting closer and closer, larger and larger in her view. Tall, towering shadows in the darkness.

Elarion couldn't help but think how ironic it was; normally she would be terrified of going into the woods at night, of the tunnels of darkness that loomed before in the spaces between the trees. Who knew what creatures, or vagabonds, were hiding there, waiting for some unsuspecting human?

But she had been willing to brave the night woods, and now, they would be her sanctuary.

Hopefully.

Closer. Closer. As Elarion closed the distance to the trees, the angry dragon was closing the distance behind her and above her, bursts of firestreams still raging from its jaws to the air and grass behind her. If it had been daytime, one would have been able to see the air shimmering with heat.

Elarion knew that she couldn't have been running more than a minute, but it felt like hours as her feet pounded the ground, trying to gain speed, her breathing coming in hard, labored pants, her skin and parts of her clothes soaked with sweat, beads of it rolling off her face and arms.

Closer. Closer.

Closer. Closer.

Closer.

She had almost reached the cover of the trees when the dragon caught up to her.

The tail end of a searing bolt of flames hit her legs, and she _screamed_. Red-hot agony raced up her nerves, and she stumbled, catching herself with her hands and wrists on flaming grass.

How, she had no idea, but Elarion was able to push herself up and throw herself past the tree line, and into the forest.

She her back hit the dirt and a few fallen leaves, a split second before she wondered if this really was a sanctuary at all, if the dragon wouldn't set the forest on fire to get to her.

But it didn't.

The dragon stopped. Then, with a roar, the dragon flew up back in the sky, thankfully away from her village, Elarion seeing glimpses of its form through the spaces in the tree branches.

_Thank the stars_, Elarion thought. She didn't know why the dragon had turned back, especially when many other dragons – and maybe, probably, even this one, too – were killing mages. Why had it just chased her, then, and stopped at the woods? Maybe it didn't want to endanger other creatures – creatures, animals, that the dragons valued above humans – living in the forest?

Maybe. Most likely.

Nor did she know where the dragon was going now. Her first thought was instant and sickening: back to her village, now that Elarion herself was out of reach?

No. No, she wouldn't think about that. She refused to think about that.

That dragon was going home, wherever its home was.

That's what she was going to tell herself. That was the answer she would stick to.

Now, she would just focus on how glad she was that the dragon was gone, and had left her alone.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and instantly hissed as she felt sharp, stabbing pain hitting her with full force. The adrenaline must have kept her from feeling it, but now she did, hot, agonizing burning on her back, legs, wrists, and hands.

Elarion sucked in another breath, and forced herself to breathe deeply. It would be okay. She had healing magic; that would take care of it. She could do this.

It was too dark for her under the cover of the trees for her to see, but she was sure that her skin was blistered and raw. She didn't know how deep or severe the burns were, but it didn't matter. It would be just like when she healed burns after the village was first attacked by a dragon, she told herself.

Elarion first scooted farther into the woods, away from the tree line. Her hands trembled against her will, still a little shaky from what just happened, and in pain from the burns, but she was able to steady her right hand just enough to draw the familiar rune – a rune even slightly off would not work, or at least not how it should, she had learned. Her voice was an airy, shaky whisper.

"Sa-sana…hoc…ardeat."

With the incantation, the rune disappeared, the light whisping toward her and settling into her burned skin. Elarion let out a sigh of relief and closed her eyes. The pain was gone.

She let herself rest and breathe for a moment.

But she couldn't stay here.

_Okay. Okay, Elarion. You can do this. _

It was still some time until the sun rose, and she needed to get some more distance from the village before then. It didn't matter how tired she was.

Adjusting her bag, Elarion hoisted herself to standing, and by the limited view the conjured light ball in her hand allowed – it only let her see a few feet in front of her –, she found the well-worn forest road, and continued on.

* * *

It was daybreak by the time her light ball fizzled out, thank the stars. She didn't want to be caught in the woods at night without a light source. And though the magical light ball itself drew from the sun, a power source outside herself, it still took mental effort and concentration to form a spell in the first place, let alone keep one constantly running.

With a full night without sleep, energy sapped away from the scare and physical effort of running away from a _fire breathing sun dragon_, getting burned and healing those burns, her focus wavered, the light ball stuttering a few times a couple hours before the stars began to fade.

There was no sign of a human settlement within her line of sight, and she wasn't about to go hunting for one. Or sleep out in the middle of the road. Elarion went off the path and a little deeper into the woods, and crashed there, curled up in a blanket between some tree roots, finally getting some much-needed sleep.

* * *

He didn't know what to do. He'd been sent out by the Dragon King – him, along with many others – to teach the humans a lesson, to put them back in _their place_. His particular orders were to go to the human village where the humans committed the crime; while the one sent before him was supposed to scare the humans into realizing that arcanum magic was _not for them_, _not their right_, it clearly hadn't worked. The human mage still practiced the magic forbidden to it.

So, now there had to be more drastic measures.

No more simple scares, or warnings. No.

Apparently, _destruction_ was the only language the humans understood.

Destroy the human settlements, and kill all the human mages. They dared to reach for magic that was not for them? They would have no magic _at all._

But then he saw the human who had started it all – the one seen practicing sun magic without a primal stone, leaving the settlement.

With that human away from the village, did he still destroy the village anyway, now that the one who committed the crime wasn't there?

Or did he follow the human and destroy it, make it pay for its own crimes?

He didn't know.

So, now, he was flying back to his superiors. They would tell him what he needed to do.

* * *

It turned out walking in the dark with nothing but an orb of light that only illuminated a few feet ahead wasn't good for one's sense of direction.

After getting some rest, brushing off her clothes and smoothing her hair as best she could, and eating, she hefted her bag over her shoulder and stepped back onto the road.

She looked back and forth along the road.

And she…didn't recognize anything.

No landmarks she knew from the times she visited other human settlements.

She was _lost. _

_Crap. _

The only thing she recognized at all were the mountains on the far horizon, a blur of blue-gray crowned by white; the mountains where she hoped – _prayed_ – she would find the Startouch elves – and that they would listen to her and help save her people, and that this journey wouldn't be for nothing.

_Wait…._

Elarion stared into the distance and squinted. Before the mountains, along the road and past the trees, she could see what looked to be settlements.

But…they didn't _look _like any human settlements she'd ever seen. They seemed too large, the architecture she could just barely see from here was shaped differently, shaped as if –

Oh. Oh _no. _

Elarion's heart sank into the sickening dread-almost-panic twisting in her stomach.

They were _elven _settlements.

Most elves were not kind to humans. What would she do if she met any on the road? And there was no way she could rest in an inn at this point. She'd have to sleep in the woods, off the road like she had last night. And what if her food ran out? She couldn't go to an elven city or town to buy any – they didn't use money anyway, and they probably wouldn't want to sell anything of theirs to a human.

She could feel herself starting to shake. Elarion forced herself to take a slow, deep breath, closing her eyes.

_Okay, Elarion,_ she told herself. _Calm down. Calm down. Just…. _Her thoughts stuttered and stalled. "Just" what? She stared down the road, her eyes going to the mountain top, then the elven settlements, then to staring at the mountains' base as she scrambled to get her thoughts going again.

Finally, she did.

She would just keep going. She could sleep just off the road, and travel alongside it under the cover of trees, or travel at night and sleep during the day. And if she ran out of food, well…. She would cross that bridge when she got there. For now, she would just go as quickly as she could, and ration her food, and hope it would be enough.

_Okay, Elarion. Okay, you can do this. _

Rolling her shoulders and steeling herself, adjusting her bag strap, Elarion nodded to herself, and headed down the road.

* * *

Rationing the food wasn't hard. The year of the famine made small meals easy to get used to quickly, plus the bread, and cheese and other things she could use to make a sandwich, were filling enough.

She hoped the cheese wouldn't mold before she used it, she pondered at one point when she stopped to eat. She hadn't thought about that when she had been packing.

The first day, Elarion traveled when it was still light out; she had woken up in the early afternoon, and of course, it was best she cover as much ground as she could while awake, taking short, few-minute breaks to rest and eat.

At sunset of the first day – still a bit a ways away from encountering the first elven settlement, to her relief – she pondered whether or not to stop or keep going. She would keep going, she reasoned; she wasn't that tired. She looked up to the stars; the midnight star was there, blinking steadily like a heartbeat from its place above her, framed by the trees that lined the road. It was as if it were encouraging her to go on, telling her that she could do this.

She powered through the night, and stopped again when the sun rose too far above the horizon for Elarion's comfort – about mid-morning. The mountains were getting ever closer. But so were the elven towns. As Elarion curled up against a tree trunk to rest, with roots on either side of her, she tried not to think about it.

On the third day, the elven settlements were no longer just a blur of swirl-shaped roofs on the horizon. They were right by the road, or just a bit of a ways off the road, very much in sight. She saw glimpses of the people who lived there, horned heads and sharp-pointed ears – though the horns were the most immediately noticeable to her – milling about between far buildings or traveling on the road. She saw glimpses of their clothing, too, when they walked on the road; brightly colored and elaborately designed, some with patterns that matched the ones on their buildings – different than the styles Elarion was used to seeing.

Thankfully, though, there was plenty enough tree cover for her to hide in and avoid being noticed.

Not halfway through the fourth day, Elarion would find another reason to be thankful for the tree cover.

* * *

_Follow the human_, his king had said. _And kill it. It shall pay for its crimes. _

And so he would. He turned back to the road the human had been near that night, and followed along it. It had been a few days travel since, but humans couldn't traverse near as fast as dragons. A few hours later, he could see its shape on the road. A glimpse of it from far off told him where it was headed. But it ducked into the trees, and he couldn't just set the forest on fire. There might be elves or other powerful magical creatures who would get caught it in.

Not to mention it was headed toward elven towns and cities.

Nevermind that. He could wait. He would bide his time until it came out from the protection of the trees and surrounding elves.

And then…he could toy with it, have some fun, before killing it.

His king also didn't specify _how _he should kill it.

And no one was here to scold him for playing with his food.

* * *

About a quarter of the day through the fourth day, a dragon flew overhead.

Elarion was walking alongside the road. She had tried to sleep, but couldn't, the light glaring too brightly between the branches. The hard ground hadn't helped either; even with the blankets and trying to smooth the ground from any stray sticks or leaves, it didn't help much. She'd tossed and turned for probably about an hour, she guessed, before finally giving up.

There was a long break between the towns, and if anyone where to be on the road, she would be able to see them from long way off, with enough time to duck back into the trees before anyone could notice she didn't have horns. So she decided, with that relative safety, she would make the most of her being awake and cover some more ground.

Elarion dreaded the thought of having to sleep who-knows-how-many days more on the rough ground. And all because she got lost and got herself away from any human inn.

_I could have waited just a few more hours, _Elarion berated herself as walked along, hugging the treeline just in case. _Left in the early morning, right when the sun rose, before anyone else got up. _

Then she would have gone in the right direction, and –

Her thoughts were cut off.

A heavy _wooshing _sound came from above her. Elarion looked up to see yellow and red flying past.

Scales. Claws. A tail.

_Dragon!_

For a moment, Elarion froze. Then she dashed back into the trees, where the dragon hopefully wouldn't see her if it looped back.

_Please don't have seen me. Please don't have seen me. Please don't come back and see me. Don't see me. Don't see me. Don't see me. _

Her beat frantically as she pressed herself against the truck of a tree several yards from the road, curling up with her knees against her chest as she tried to calm herself down.

She buried her face in her hands.

_Calm down. Calm down. Just, calm down. _

She dropped her hands and leaned back against the tree, and forced herself to take deep, slow breaths until her heart calmed a bit.

Her first thought, then, was, was it the same dragon that came to her village? Was it _following _her? _Had it burned down her village and was chasing her now?_

_Stop, _Elarion commanded herself, feeling herself starting to go into panic mode again. _Stop it. _

She shoved those thoughts and questions into the back of her mind. She couldn't think about that now.

Besides, for all she knew, it was a completely different dragon, anyway. Dragons could fly anywhere they pleased, and many sun dragons looked the same. It wasn't necessarily the same one. Wasn't necessarily following her. She shouldn't jump to conclusions.

Still…it wouldn't hurt to rest for a bit. To lay low for an hour or two.

She settled herself back against the tree, and took some more from her ever-dwindling food supply.

Elarion shook her head, dispelling worry threatening to flood her thoughts. She still had a lot of food left. It would last.

_It has to last. _

And…that was another _wooshing _sound.

Elarion looked up toward the noise.

A flapping sound.

_More wings. _

_Another dragon._

She could feel the heat of panic start up again, but Elarion shook her head sharply and took a deep, slow breath for what must have been the hundredth time in ten minutes.

_It must be another dragon._

Or, it was the same one circling back.

Another _woosh _of loud wings, coming back her way. Then over her again, from the other direction.

_Oh, crap._

It _was _circling back.

Muscles tense, Elarion waited, staring up at the spaces between the tree branches, and seeing glimpses of the same red and yellow scales.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Elarion lost count.

Finally, _finally, _the sound of large, flapping wings became quieter, and quieter, until they faded completely, off in the distance, and yellow and red no longer appeared above the trees.

Elarion felt most of the tension leave her all at once, and she practically slumped against the tree. Except for one hard knot of tension that still remained; with all the worried thoughts swirling around in her head – _what if that dragon comes back what if my food runs out what if I run into elves is my mom okay is my village still there what if dragons burned it down – _she couldn't let herself relax now. If – no, when – she found the Startouch elves, and her people were saved, _then _she could let herself fully relax.

But for now, she had to keep going.

The sun was high in the sky now, just beginning its downward trek. Elarion debated for moment: should she try to sleep some more now? Or cover more ground, since it seemed the dragon was gone, at least for the moment?

She would keep going, she decided. At least while it was light. Elarion pushed herself off of the ground, and went to the edge of the road, walking alongside it.

* * *

Sleeping nights in the forests, Elarion spent the days hugging the edge treeline. Several times, she had to duck back behind the trees to avoid begin seen by traveling elves, and a few times, the sun dragon – by now she was pretty sure it was the same one – flew over, and she scrambled to hide at least thirty feet into the forest until she was absolutely sure it was gone.

Now, it was the tenth day, and nearly evening. Elarion paused and braced herself against a tree. The bark rough against her hand, and she could feel the cold emanating from it. Winter would be here soon, and while she did have warm clothes in her bag, she worried that if the weather turned too cold, even that wouldn't be enough.

Past the road ahead, the mountains were far, far closer now than they had been. Maybe in a day's time, Elarion estimated, she would be there at the mountain's base, and she would have to start climbing. And that would be dangerous.

Especially dangerous to do while exhausted. The dragon sightings, plus the fear of animals and the mental weight of her journey, and what she had to do and the consequences of failure, made sleeping an unbroken eight hours nearly impossible. Sleeping on the hard ground, even with the blankets, hadn't helped.

There were two more elven settlements until she got to the mountains. One, which looked like a larger city, was directly at its base. But – she peered past the blue haze at the horizon, and the road looked like it forked before the city, still under the cover of trees, and leading up into the mountains – it could easily be avoided.

The first settlement appeared to be smaller, more of a town, though still larger than Elarion's village.

And that one was much closer.

The thought of resting in an inn, sleeping in an actual bed after days on the road, filled Elarion with longing. A good night's sleep would help her – even of only a little – with the climbing she would have to do starting tomorrow. And the thought of sleeping outside in the woods tonight made her want to cry.

But elves were not kind to humans. She knew that sometimes humans interacted with elves, and it was not forbidden to enter an elven city, per se, but…who knew if they would let her have a room, if they had an inn. Not to mention, elves didn't use money. Would they accept her money, even as a trade? She didn't know if she did have anything to trade for a night of boarding. There were few things she had with her from which she was willing to part, and a blanket or a set of clothing – human clothing, at that, wasn't worth much in comparison to what she would be bargaining for.

Still, she would take that risk.

…And she would keep her cloak hood up, just so she wouldn't be singled out on the street.

_Okay, _she thought. _I can do this. _


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 1: Sun**

**Chapter 5**

_The stars asked_

_to receive her light_

_and the fire of the raging dragon stopped_

\- from Elarion's poem

* * *

The town entrance was a small opening between the trees directly next to the left side of the road. People, all elves that she could see just at a glance, bustled around her, hauling wagons and carts, going in and out of stores, talking to each other in a strange accent. Young children, some of them with blue skin and wings, she noticed, played and laughed in the streets, and from underneath her hood, Elarion smiled at the sight.

So cute.

The roads were wide and made of neatly cut cobblestone, and the buildings were about the same distance apart as in her own village, thought the architecture was very different, just as she had seen from a distance as she had passed by elven settlements on her journey; although up close, it was even more impressive.

Swirling, leaf-shaped designs carved into the walls and doors, windows shaped like butterflies or sometimes circles and arches with colored glass, the roofs rising in sharp, curved points with elaborately decorated chimneys made from stones that Elarion didn't recognize immediately, thought she was sure they were some kind of gemstones.

But Elarion didn't gawk at the scenery, though she was tempted to. Being around so many elves, people she had only heard about and seen far off, made her nervous, and she kept her head down for the most part, except for occasionally glancing up at the buildings to see if any looked like an inn. Thankfully, no one bothered her.

After about ten minutes of wandering, she found one. Just like with human inns, a sign hung outward by the door.

The Dancing Unicorn Inn, it read, gold letters engraved in the wood, next to a golden outline of a unicorn rearing up.

She had found what she was looking for. Steeling herself, Elarion pushed the door open.

And blinked at the lights. Outside, the sun was dim from the evening, but here, candles sat in chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, illuminating the entire room. The room itself was a lobby, pretty much the same as with the inns in human towns, with some chairs and tables set about the room and a desk before the far wall, the wall housing keys on hooks. To the left of the desk, disappearing into the left wall, was a staircase, where Elarion assumed the rooms were.

The only difference, besides the lighting, was the dark-skinned elf with gold tattoos behind the desk. As soon as she spoke or he saw her hands, he would know she was a human. Elarion took a quiet breath, and walked up to the desk.

"Excuse me," she said, surprised when her voice came out normal and even.

The elf's eyes snapped up from where he was reading a book. She could tell when her accent registered, and he gave her a quick look up and down, before narrowing his eyes at her. "What do you want?" he asked shortly, his tone stand-offish and impatient.

Elarion swallowed. "I'd like a room for the night, please."

The man gave a short breath through his nose, and he looked away for a moment, seeming to be thinking about something. Elarion didn't breathe.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was in reality only a few seconds, the elf spoke again. "Alright, there's a room I can give you. Do you have anything to trade?" Elarion opened her mouth to answer, but then he continued. "Wait, you humans use money, right?"

Elarion nodded. "Yes. I…have money."

"I'll take that, then."

Surprised, but not about to question it or test this man's patience, Elarion quickly rummaged in her bag and took out the amount that would be for one night at a human inn. "Here," she said. She set the coins on the desk.

The elven man looked at them for a moment, picking up the coins and rubbing them between his fingers. Then, he gathered them up and placed them under the desk, before turning around and taking a key off the hook. He handed it to Elarion.

"The room number is on the key," the man said, indicating the paper tag wrapped around the ring on the end of the key's handle. "One night only," he added sternly.

"Yes." Elarion nodded. "Thank you."

The man grunted instead of responding, and Elarion turned and went up the stairs. They number on the key's tag read "12," and it didn't take her long to find the number engraved on the top edge of one of the room's doors, the symbols also in gold. Elarion turned the knob, and went inside.

A bed! she thought with relief. Elarion shut the door behind her and locked it, allowing herself the moment it took to place the key on the dresser – thankfully right next to the door – before dropping her bag and launching herself on the bed in a belly flop.

And it was wonderful.

"Ahhhhh," she sighed and closed her eyes. She turned over onto her back and splayed her arms across the blanket – which was softer than any material she'd felt – her legs and feet dangling over the side of the bed.

I could fall asleep right here.

It took all her willpower not, too.

She should take off her shoes first, after all, and probably change her clothes, which were quite dirty.

Opening her eyes and sitting up with a grunt, Elarion's gaze met a door on the far wall directly in front of her.

I wonder what that is. Maybe it was a bathroom?

Curious, Elarion got up and opened the door. It was a bathroom. A white tub was set into the wall, with a metal rack with white, fluffy towels, and what looked to be bottles of liquid soap – something she had only heard of – resting in an indent in the all beside the tub. A toilet sat next to the tub and to her right, and next to that was some sort of raised basin, over which was a pipe with a knob. And above the basin was a mirror.

Elarion shook her head. She wasn't going to bother wondering about elven technology right now. Right now, a bath sounded nice.

Or, maybe she should wonder about elven technology. The bathtub was empty of water. Elarion fought down the budding disappointment, and instead turned to wonder about the metal pipe and knob stuck in the wall above the tub. Hmmm…what does this do….

She leaned down, wrapped her fingers around the knob, and turned. With a squeak, the knob turned with them. Then, water gushed out of the pipe and into the tub. Elarion slightly jolted, startled. Then, she giggled.

Running water!

She'd heard of it; tales of such technology told by human travelers who had been to elven cities. But to actually see it and get to use it….!

A breathy laugh escaped her as she dripped her fingers in the water falling from the pipe. It was warm. She stayed that way for a few minutes, before the ache in her back and the need to actually get into that water made her step back.

After closing the bathroom door – not that she needed to; it just felt better – Elarion shucked off her boots and the rest of her clothes. As she did, she glanced up into the mirror.

Boy, was she glad she'd hidden under that cloak. Though she did the best she could do detangle her hair with her fingers and the little water she could spare for things over than drinking, it was still poofy, oddly-shaped nest. And she had dirt on her sleeves and skirt of her dress, though mostly on the edges and hem, with some stray leaves she hadn't noticed before.

Thank the stars she had packed other clothes.

Finishing that, Elarion stepped into the tub and sank into the water.

"Mmmmm…." Elarion shivered a little at the contrast of temperatures – she hadn't even noticed she was cold – then closed her eyes and laid her head back as she let the warmth wash over her. She was in paradise.

After a few moments of just basking, Elarion turned to investigate the bottles of liquid soap. Some were for the body, apparently, according to the names and instructions written on them, and others for the hair. And they seemed to have different properties, too – skin moisturizing, hair detangling, hair strengthening, skin exfoliating, and others. She picked out one soap for her body and one for her hair, the ones that seemed would suit her best. But they all smelled lovely – some scents her of herbs she recognized, and of others that she didn't.

The sun had already nearly fully set by the time Elarion had climbed out of the tub, found the drain at the bottom to let the water out, and dried off. She picked out some clean clothes, another warm dress with leggings, and put them on before crashing onto the bed – the wonderful, smooth-surfaced bed. She snuggled under the soft blankets, wrapping herself up in them, taking a fistful of the fabric and holding it to her chest, tucking a fold of it under one leg.

Wrapped up like that, finally relaxing as much as she could on this journey with the burden over her head, clean and warm and comfortable, she fell asleep.

* * *

Elarion was woken up by loud, harsh, insistent pounding on her door. It was still night, the window just beside her bed showing a black sky and glowing almost-full moon. The knocking continued. Scrambling to get up and untangle herself from the blankets, she hurried across the room and opened the door. The elven man who gave her the key stood there just beyond the threshold.

"Get your things and get out," he said, his tone hard.

Elarion stuttered in shock, her voice airy. "What…? But, I paid –."

The man cut her off. "It doesn't matter. We're fully booked with you here, and an elf needs this room. Now get your things, and get. Out."

Shaken, it took all of Elarion's will power not to physically shrink away and pull her arms in close to her body like a frightened child. She kept her hands to her sides, feeling her fingers flexing slightly as she forced them not to curled into fists. Then she nodded, giving the man a quiet, breathy, "Okay," and turning back into the room to grab her things.

Everything was already packed; she hurriedly grabbed her cloak from it, put the cloak on and pulled up the hood, and slug her bag across her shoulders. Then she shoved her sockless feet into her boots.

The man was still waiting for her when she turned toward the door, and he said nothing, only kept his gaze on Elarion as she went out the door, slightly stepping away at an angle to let her pass. Elarion could feel his eyes on her back as she began to descend the stairs.

"Stay off the streets!" the elven man called after her, in a low but stern voice. Then Elarion could hear him grumbling under his breath, the sound of his voice getting quieter when he went into the room, presumably to fetch the key and tidy the space up for the next customer.

When Elarion got to the lobby, an elven woman, with white hair and light skin that was decorated with dark violet markings, stood by the desk, leaning on it with one forearm. She must have been the one who needed the room, Elarion reasoned.

The woman swept a glance over her, and Elarion quickened her steps toward the inn's door. The lack of a burning presence on her back told her that the woman must have looked away. She pulled it open and stepped out into the street.

It was still the middle of the night. After seeing the town in the daylight, and coming from the illuminated lobby of the inn, Elarion felt that she had plunged into another world, covered in darkness. Still, there was some light. Moonlight shone down on the cobblestone, and lanterns high on the walls of buildings lit the empty pathways, cutting through shadows and making other shadows deeper.

Well, not completely empty, apparently. Elarion saw a figure flit through the shadows in the corner of her eye, on the other side of the street to her right, between a few buildings. Though far fewer than during the day, people still wandered around, keeping their voices low, most of them hugging the walls. A shout came from somewhere off in the distance, startling her and making her jump, and Elarion remembered the man's warning about staying off the streets. It must not be safe here, she thought.

Back to the forest it is, then.

The lights from the moon and the lanterns made it mostly easy to find her way back to the entrance of the town. She could have summoned a ball of light, like the last time, but that would have drawn attention that Elarion did not want. Not to mention she was tired – it would be difficult to maintain the light, the ball flickering in and out.

When she got back to the road, though, the lanterns no longer helped her, and the trees blocked out most of the moonlight. A quick look back and forth told her no one was on the road; even in the sparse light, she would be able to see someone traveling along it. Assured that no one would see her, Elarion put her finger into the air to begin a light-ball spell.

Her finger shook, and the light popped in her face and disappeared. Elarion had do the rune several times before she got it right; finally, when she said the incantation, a ball of yellow light appeared in her cupped hand. After a few seconds of staying steady, the light flickered.

Then a few moments later, it went out.

Argh!

She couldn't keep a steady light source like this. Elarion yawned and rubbed her eyes with her left hand. What was she going to do? No way was she going to try to navigate the woods in the dark, with the moonlight mostly blocked by the tree cover. And going back to the elven town wasn't an option.

There was a clear, flat space between the road and the trees.

Elarion curled up there, at the side of the road, wrapping her cloak more securely around her. Hopefully she would be able to wake up with the sun, leave, and continue on before anyone passed by on the road and saw her.

* * *

"Hey!"

Elarion woke to a shout. Another rude awakening, she thought grumpily. Elarion squinted in the sunlight that met her eyes, trying to focus them. The voice sounded gruff and male. Something hit against her side none too gently. Finally, her vision cleared, and she looked up into the face of a light-skinned elven man.

"Get out of the way! You can't sleep here! Get up! People are using this road!" the man shouted at her. He roughly nudged her again with his boot.

A young, quiet voice. "Dad…."

What is this guy's problem, anyway? Elarion thought, also grumpy from being so harshly awakened twice in a row. The lack of good sleep certainly didn't help her mood, either.

Still, she got up, brushing the dirt off from her clothes; her bag was still across her shoulders, thank the stars. When she stood, the man huffed and turned away.

Elarion took in her surroundings. A wooden cart stood in the road, near the town's entrance, pulled by a strange, colorful blue, bird-horse type animal. Elarion pressed her lips together and huffed quietly. She hadn't been anywhere near "in the way." The cart had plenty of room to pass by her.

As the elven man crossed in front of the cart and into the town, Elarion could see an elven woman and a young girl – maybe around her age or a few years younger, she guessed – with the same light skin, white hair, and dark violet markings, standing by the cart. And there, climbing off the seat in front of the cart as he dropped the rains, was a human man. Elarion stared at him for a short moment, at first disbelieving, and then stunned.

Elarion didn't think she'd been so happy to see another human in her life.

The woman turned to go into the town, and called to the girl. The held her gaze on Elarion for a few moments, giving her what she could only describe as an apologetic look, as if to say she was sorry for the man's – presumably her father; Elarion thought she heard her call him "Dad" – actions. The woman called again, more urgently this time, and the girl torn her eyes away, seemingly reluctantly, and followed.

The human man stayed with the cart, now dropping the reigns he'd been holding in one hand, and Elarion's eyes turned back to him. He was maybe in his thirties, if she had to guess. He was light skinned, and wore a brown, wide-brimmed hat, wearing a thick-materialled looking jacket that was the same color brown as his hat.

"Hello there," the man greeted, tipping his hat and smiling at her. "You alright?"

At the sound of his voice – warm, gentle, and friendly – caught Elarion's attention, and she realized she had been staring.

Oops.

And now, after over a week of barely any person interaction, with the few people she'd talked to being unfriendly elves, interacting with another human, friendly and asking after her wellbeing, nearly made her want to cry.

But Elarion shoved that feeling down. She wouldn't cry now. She would keep her composure.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you," she answered, relieved when her voice came out steady.

The man nodded, then walked around the cart and began to unload it, first pulling a smaller hand-push cart off the back and rolling it to the front.

"Sorry about that," the man said, making conversation as he worked. He went back to the larger cart, hefted out a crate, and came back around to set the crate in the smaller cart. "So, why were you sleeping out here on the side of the road?"

Oh, yeah. That again. "I got kicked out of the inn," Elarion answered. "An elf needed the room." She couldn't help the bitterness that seeped into her tone of voice.

The man hummed in sympathy, stacking another crate, this one open and with fruit of different types and colors peeking over the brim. He winced in sympathy. "I'm sorry. That's rough."

"Yeah. Thanks." Then she asked, curious as she watched the human unload the cart that apparently belong to the elven family, "Why are you with elves?"

"Oh, I work for them," the man answered.

"You work for them?" Elarion echoed.

"Uh-huh."

"Why?" She couldn't imagine wanting to be around elves every day, let alone working for them.

The man smiled. "An understandable question," he said, lifting another crate from the larger cart. "You see, I was a merchant, but then I got myself into debt with them, and now I'm employed as their servant until I work it off."

Elarion's tilted head and creased eyebrows showed it all. She wasn't sure if this question would be insensitive, but…. "Can I ask…how did that happen? I thought elves didn't use money. Do elves trade with humans?" She hadn't meant that last question, but it still confused her. If elves didn't use money, like she had always heard, how would a human get into debt with one? She thought the elf in charge of the inn was an anomaly, a stroke of luck. But did elves trade with humans after all? They must, to use money, and to even have money to lend or pay a human. How else would a human get into debt with elves?

Now leaning against the front of the larger cart, the man didn't seem offended by the question at all; he just smiled at her. "Some elves do, though not many. Most see money as either silly or useless, or some keep it as a novelty, something from another culture, you know. The ones who do get money through trading with humans, they do it enough, and they get rich with it, since they don't need to use it among their own folk.

"And as for how it happened, well. My parents, my two siblings, my wife, and my son and daughter and I all lived together. We fell on hard times with a famine last year" – Elarion nodded; famines were common all over where humans lived. The elves' magic must keep them from experiencing famines like humans do, Elarion thought – "and on top of that, my business wasn't doing well. So, this elven family that sometimes trades with merchants from my town allowed my family to borrow from them. Not sure if it was out of the kindness of their hearts, or because they had nothing better to do with all their money, but" – he waved his hand in a "that's how it is" gesture. "They wanted to be paid back, but we didn't have it, so here I am." He shrugged.

Or maybe it was the daughter, Elarion thought. The elven girl seemed kind enough: apologetic about her dad's actions.

The man reached back into the cart and lifted out another crate. "My name's Thomas, by the way," he said. "What's yours?"

"Elarion."

"Nice to meet you, Elarion. You're not from around here, I take it."

"No." She shook her head. "I'm from the Mid Spring Valley. My village is just near the west end of it."

"Oh, wow. You're far from home."

"Yeah." Her voice came out with a sigh.

"You all by yourself?"

"Mmhmm."

"Brave kid." Elarion smiled at that. "What are you doing all the way out here by yourself?"

"I'm –" she paused. Should she tell him? Surely he would know about all the dragon attacks that had been happening; from what she'd heard, they were affecting human settlements far beyond just the Midsummer Valley. Would he think she was silly, trying to seek help from elves she didn't even know if she would find, or think she was on a fool's errand?

Well, it wouldn't hurt to tell him, she guessed.

"I'm trying to find a way to stop the dragon attacks that are happening," she told him. Thomas paused, giving her his full attention, and Elarion told him about what she'd read and heard about the star nexus and startouch elves, and her plan to find and petition the startouch elves to intervene on the humans' behalf.

Elarion braced herself, but Thomas didn't tell her she was silly or that her goal was far-fetched. He stared into nowhere at a spot on the ground for a moment with a contemplative look on his face, his arms crossed, then nodded slowly.

"That's as good as a plan as any," Thomas said, giving a sigh and lifting himself off from where he had been leaning against the larger cart. "If something had any possible chance of stopping these dragons, I'd try it." He went back around the cart, hefting out one last crate. "That star nexus is still a bit of a ways, and a tough climb. Have you eaten? Probably not, huh? Since you just woke up."

Elarion shook her head in confirmation.

"Here." From the crate, he took out a small paper bag with green and yellow runes drawn on it, and pulled out a long loaf of bread.

Or rather, a sandwich.

But it wasn't like the sandwiches Elarion had been eating on her journey; plain bread, cheese, and meat jerky dry and tough and sometimes made her jaw hurt from how much she had to chew it, cold or lukewarm depending on the weather and how much the bag was affected by her body heat, though mostly cold.

She could smell the garlic, butter, and rosemary from here. And the soft, fresh, slices of ham, the light green of lettuce that still looked crisp. Not to mention it was long enough to break apart into two or three meals for someone of her size.

Elarion felt a pang in her stomach at the sight, reminding her of her hunger. Thomas wrapped one end of the sandwich in a large white cloth and handed it to her. It was warm in her hands.

"Take this," he continued. "They can spare a bit; there's much more where this comes from."

"Thank you…." Her voice came out soft and nearly breathless, and she grinned so widely she thought her cheeks might ache. "It's warm." The bread was soft, too, and the food inside was as fresh as it looked.

"Magic is amazing, yeah?" Thomas said, lifting up the paper bag and tapping it close to the runes with his pointer finger, making the bag rustle. "These runes keep whatever is inside warm and fresh. As a matter of fact, here." Rustling around for a brief second, he brought out another, smaller paper bag with the same runes on it. "You can put that," he gestured with his head toward the sandwich in Elarion's hands, "in this."

She took the bag and slipped the sandwich inside it.

"And." Thomas paused. "You have water with you?"

"Mmhmm." Elarion nodded and rummaged in her bag with one hand until she brought out her water container. From the very light swishing sound inside it, she could tell it was less than a quarter of the way full – nearly empty. Elarion frowned at the container for a moment, mentally kicking herself. She'd been so tired last night that she had completely forgotten to refill it with the water at the inn.

Thomas seemed to notice as well. He reached over the side of the larger cart and pulled out a water skin, similar to Elarion's own container, put longer and more flexible, also with runes, but blue and green instead of yellow and green. "Here, let's fill that up for you." He gestured for her container, and she handed it to him.

"Does that keep the water fresh, too?"

"It does, indeed," Thomas confirmed, pouring water from his waterskin into her container. Then he closed both and Elarion's back to her.

"Thank you," Elarion said, feeling almost overwhelmed the man's kindness. "So much."

The man smiled and nodded at her. "Don't mention, kid. I'm happy to help." He went back to put the waterskin away, then began to unhook the horse-bird from the larger cart. "Tell you what. The family won't be back for a couple hours or so, and I'm going to take this food to market. It might be a bit before any of us can come back for the cart. Why don't you sit here, take a rest, and eat?"

Elarion smiled and sighed a small laugh. "Thank you. I'll do that."

Thomas smiled and nodded. He wrapped the horse-bird's reigns around his wrist, then gripped the smaller cart's – now filled with crates of food – handles. "Best of luck to you, kid. I hope your plan works. Have a safe journey."

"Me, too. Thanks. You, too!"

Thomas smiled again, tipping his hat, and set off into the town with the small cart and horse-bird trotting alongside them.

Now that she was no longer distracted by the conversation, Elarion's hunger returned in full force. With her sandwich in one hand and her water container in the other, she went around the cart, set the food and water down, and pushed herself up backwards to sit on the open back. Once she was settled, her legs dangling over the cart bed, she opened the bag her sandwich was in, carefully tore off a meal-sized piece, and took a bite.

"Mmmmmmm."

It was just was warm and heavenly as it looked. The water, too, was cool and fresh.

For at about fifteen minutes, she sat there, enjoying the first warm meal she had in over a wee, and a break from having to sit on the ground.

Then, all too soon, she finished, the sun inching farther above the horizon, and it was time once again to be on her way.

* * *

The journey to the base of the mountains took a little less time than expected, even with the breaks she took to rest and eat. Maybe it was the food, or the encouragement from Thomas, getting to sleep in a real bed, even though it was for a brief time, that allowed her to walk faster.

As the sun was just slipping over the horizon, still visible, but barely, she was at the mountain's base, having stayed hidden in the forest to be out of sight from the larger elven city on the other side of the road. Now, Elarion looked up at the mountain she would have to climb up. She, very, verybriefly, entertained the idea of sleeping at the base and climbing tomorrow. And though not as exhausted as she usually was by now, she was still tired from walking all day.

She quickly and easily dismissed the thought. She wasn't that tired. She shivered, pulling her cloak around her closer. It was getting colder, she noted. And the farther up she climbed, the colder it would be. It didn't matter, she told herself. She would be fine; she could make it. The sooner she got to the star nexus, the better.

Elarion put one foot in front of the other, and began her way up the slope.

* * *

Very few creatures lived on that mountain. And most of them kept themselves buried in the snow at night, or in caves and cracks in the rocks. It wouldn't do to burn all the forests down, especially the ones near the summit, but…now that the danger of collateral damage was gone….

Now he could really have fun.

* * *

She'd only been walking for about ten minutes when she heard it.

In the distance, and steadily getting closer, the whooshing sound of heavy wing beats.

ROARR!

No! Not again!

Elarion turned. And saw the dragon, red and fiery in the sunset, flying faster than a crossbow bolt, directly toward her.

It wasn't stopping.

Elarion screamed as its mouth opened wide in an angry snarl, and it swooped low. She threw herself on the ground, just barely missing being slashed by the dragon's claws that gouged the air not three feet above her.

The dragon spun back, shooting a stream of fire, and Elarion cried out again, launching herself to the side and rolling away at the last moment.

She hurriedly scrambled to her feet, racing forward and making a beeline to a place to the side where the trees were thicker. She made it under their cover, the overlapping branches blocking out most of the light.

But then, the trees caught on fire.

Not directly above her, but to her side, as if the dragon knew where she was and was trying to drive her out into the open.

Gasping in fear, Elarion ran to try and outpace the flames that were quickly spreading from tree to tree, heading towards her. Then, she forced herself to stop and turn and to keep her hand from shaking, she drew the same rune to tried back when her village was first attacked.

Please work! The thought was more a desperate, wordless feeling than coherent phrase.

And except for small flickering flames on the ground, which would burn out, the fire dispersed.

Elarion sighed in relief.

Until the trees burst into flames directly behind her.

She screamed. The fire spread far more quickly now. Flames caught on her dress, burning her lower right leg before she could roll on the ground and put it out. She couldn't try to put this on out with a spell. She didn't have time, and there was no way to stop her hands from shaking and messing the rune up now.

Elarion got to her feet as fast as she could with her leg screaming at her, and bolted. She exited the cover of the group of trees just in time to see the dragon circle back toward her. Its claws were outstretched, and she dropped to the ground, the claws barely missing her once more.

Hissing at the burn in her leg, she forced herself to stand up and start running again.

The chase had begun.

* * *

It had been hours. Night had well and truly fallen, and it was completely dark except for the stars that littered the sky.

When the dragon hadn't immediately attacked her again, she'd been able to stop for a moment and steady herself enough to heal her leg.

It hadn't given her any more opportunities since then.

Snow gathered on the ground now at this elevation, flakes off and on drifting peacefully from the sky. Elarion wished she could share in their peace.

The dragon would circle back several times and leave, sometimes after scoring a hit on her, before circling back a few minutes later to do it again. But nothing ever life threatening; a minor burn here, a shallow scratch there. It was toying with her. She had no idea why. But whenever she tried to stop and heal herself, or just take break and rest for more than a few seconds, the dragon was there, roaring, chasing her and driving her on.

Elarion had forgotten about the possibility of cliffs. Yet another thing to kick herself about.

Ravines were another danger to add.

Sometimes there were no passes through, and the only way to keep going was straight up. Jagged handholds tore at her hands, the cold – it was so much colder than she'd anticipated it would be – stiffening her hands and making it more difficult to grip. The warmth-infusing spell she managed to do earlier while the dragon was flying away helped, but it wasn't strong enough to ward away all the cold. She knew she'd be shivering more without the heat from adrenaline and how quickly she was forced – by the dragon and herself – to keep moving.

Now, a ravine blocked her path, and there was no way around it. She would have to jump.

It wasn't too far, she told herself, even as her face conveyed her fear as she looked at the other side of the ravine and the drop in the middle.

She had no idea how far she would fall if she missed the other edge.

But it would be okay. It was only a few feet.

(It was her full height nearly twice, the far ledge her height and a half higher than this one, and Elarion tried to – had to – ignore the burning muscles in her legs.)

She took a deep breath, took several steps back, and made a running leap.

Her hands slipped on the ledge.

With a shriek, Elarion curled her fingers against the stone. Thankfully a handhold was there, and she gripped it with all the strength she had, desperately pushing against the cliff face with her legs to find footholds and push herself up.

Her feet found leverage on the jagged rock, and for a brief second, Elarion had to stop and just hang on. Focus on keeping her hands from slipping. Catch her breath, or try to.

A roar in the distance, a great whoosh of wings overhead.

There was no escaping the claws this time.

The dragon swooped down. A wail tore from her already sore throat, her back wracked with knives of pain as the dragon dragged its claws against it. Her cloak and dress did nothing to lessen the damage; the claws tore right through them and into her skin, the blue material darkening with blood. Her hands slipped again, and she struggled to strengthen her hold and keep herself from falling, hot with panic. She reached upward with one arm over the ledge, pushing against it to pull herself up, her back in agony as the motion pulled at her gashes.

She didn't have time to think about how deep the cuts were; they were deeper than the others, but the dragon was obviously holding back, making sure the damage it did didn't kill her. That didn't mean she wouldn't probably need stitches later.

Stone scraping against her hands, her vision swimming with the water that blocked it – oh, she was crying, when did she start crying? –, gasping at the effort and gritting her teeth through the pain, pushing against uneven rocks at the side of the cliff with her booted feet, Elarion pulled herself up onto the ledge.

Another whoosh of wings.

With a final shove, Elarion rolled out of the way of the dragon, barely missing where its outstretched claws scraped the air next to the cliff face. She lay there on her side, panting, watching the dragon soar up into the sky. It would come back, and soon, she knew.

She stayed there on the cold stone for another minute, to catch her breath, calm herself down from the panic – her heart was beating so hard she felt it would punch through her chest –, and gather her strength. Keeping her eyes and ears open for the dragon.

Then, she pushed herself up onto her feet, staggering before finding her balance. She looked ahead of her, toward her destination. The summit of the mountain was in sight, and the stars glittered above it, looking almost as if they had assembled there. The star nexus.

She was almost there. She would make it.

Elarion continued on.

* * *

A person was coming up the mountain, toward the star nexus.

A human girl, a child no more than fifteen.

She looked to be in a bad way, stumbling through the snow as she was, and her clothes were torn.

And…she was connected to the sun arcanum.

This human was a magical creature.

The group looked at each other.

"Well?"

"She came all this way. And she has magic. Let us see what she is here for."

* * *

A whisper of a private conversation. "Do you think he will come?"

"Him? That eccentric hermit? I doubt it."

"You should respect your elder." A joking tease.

A scoff. "Elder? He is no elder; he is only a mere three-quarters-millennium older than I."

A soft chuckle and a fond shake of the head. "Well, it matters not. Let us go."

* * *

Elarion broke through the grove of trees. She held her arms close around her, trying to conserve her body heat. She'd been looking at the snowy ground, watching her feet so she wouldn't stumble.

Now, a radiant light, contrasting starkly with the darkness she had been in as she climbed, made her look up.

Elarion gasped, this time in wonder. And relief.

She had made it. A giddy laugh left her raw throat.

Stone structures, obviously built in elven make, beautiful leaf-like roofs, and swirls and runes carved into the structure's sides. They were so dark they were nearly blue, almost like obsidian but not quite, glittering with starlight, small and large dots that glowed on the stones' surface, along with smaller shimmering specks that looked as if they came from within.

Then even brighter light, and Elarion had to shield her eyes from it. The glow softened to something variable, and she fixed her gaze to what was in front of her.

Elarion sucked in an awed breath.

The light came from elves.

From startouch elves.

They're so beautiful, she thought.

And they were. There were at least five of them, standing about two meters in front of her. Their skin tones ranged from pure white, to tan, to blue, to dark purple, many of them, most vividly the darker tones, sparkling with stars like freckles.

All of them had long hair past their waist, some past their hips, smooth as silk and waving in the slight wind, and their heads ornamented with what looked to Elarion like crowns, some circles and hovering like haloes, others sharp and pointed and set on their foreheads. Long robes covered them from the neck down, some layered and light colored, some pure black and covered in stars like the buildings behind them, as if they were clothed in the night sky itself. And soft, white-yellow glow surrounded each one of them.

Elarion was staring, but she couldn't make herself stop.

Until one of them spoke.

A soothing tone. A woman's voice.

A brief thought: Elarion missed her mom.

"Child. Why have you come here?"

The words registered and snapped Elarion out of her awestruck daze.

Right. Words. She had to use them. The startouch elves were here; she had found them. She had to tell them what she came here for. She had to ask them to help her, to beg them that they would if it came to that, or it would all be for nothing.

"I came here," her voice stalled, and she swallowed and started again. "I came here because dragons are attacking human settlements. Thousandshave died; they're killing off all the mages, all the human mages…and…." Elarion paused, then continued. "Please. Can you help us?" She hoped she didn't sound too pleading, too desperate. But she knew she probably did.

Two elves in front of the group, the woman who had spoken, pale-skinned with dark star-speckled robes and a yellow, hovering halo, and a man standing beside her, with light blue-ish skin, looked at each other. The woman's eyes began to glow, a purple mixed with white, then, after a few second, the glow faded.

"The dragons are attacking the humans because they are angry that you," the startouch woman said, her tone making it clear that the "you" was referring to Elarion "have connected to a primal source."

Elarion nodded. Yes, she knew that was why.

The startouch man standing beside the woman then spoke. "We can help you and stop the dragons. But we will need to take your arcanum from you. You will have to give up your connection to primal magic."

When she heard those first words, that they would help her, Elarion took a breath in happiness and relief.

But then…

The happiness deflated, and so did she.

Give up her magic?

The thing she was so excited to learn about, to do. The thing that saved her village and allowed her to help several more, that kept them from starving.

The thing was precious to her, was part of her.

She would have to give that up?

But now, it was that very thing that was causing the dragons to attack.

She felt tears coming, her throat constricting, and she swallowed the feeling back.

She had to do it. She had to save everyone.

Elarion looked at the white-covered ground, took a deep breath, then lifted her head, and nodded.

"Okay," she said. "I'll do it."

The startouch woman and man nodded. The two of them and the other startouch elves moved to form a circle around Elarion.

"We will begin now," another woman with far-branching horns said as she circled closer, her layered, tan colored robes fluttering lazily; the way she moved so smoothly, it looked to Elarion like she was floating. Maybe she was.

The elves held out their hands, fingers lightly curved and palms facing Elarion. Then they all spoke, their voices loud and reverberating.

"Enim si cigam ruoy. Cigam ruoy ekat i."

And something ripped out of her.

It burned.

Elarion screamed, bringing her hand to her chest where the pain was the worst, and fell to her knees. She saw streams of golden-yellow light move through the air, from her and into the startouch elves' outstretched hands. Their eyes glowed purple before turning jet black. Then the both the yellow of magic – her magic, Elarion's magic, that they had taken from her – and the black in their eyes faded away.

It was done.

Elarion toppled on her side into the snow, suddenly weak. Every inch of her body was on fire, searing as if someone had lit a torch inside of her before forcing the flames up through her skin. She whimpered, then sobbed, tears pooling in her eyes before spilling over to wet her cheeks.

A whoosh of great wings.

Elarion's heart clenched instinctively.

She turned her head slightly to look up toward the sky. A large, blurry figure of red and yellow entered her vision, blotting out many of the stars.

Her vision was then partially blocked by boots and robes. An elf had stepped in front of her, between Elarion and the dragon. The two spoke, maybe the other elves did, too, but she couldn't focus on what was being said.

Then, the dragon turned and flew away. The sound of its wings grew quieter and quieter, fading away completely in the distance.

The sky was clear again, showing the whole field of stars, closer and brighter than they had ever seemed before, the largest and brightest one of all blinking steadily down at her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part 2: Stars**

**Chapter 6**

_Elarion, with a heavy heart,_

_cried as the stars in the sky turned black_

_They wore their masks _

_they turned their backs_

_and they left Elarion to die_

\- from Elarion's poem

* * *

"Now, you're just a standard human again."

\- Lujanne, Moonshadow Elf guardian of the Moon Nexus

* * *

Now he _really _didn't know what to do.

He had just been about to swoop down on the human again, for the last time. He'd had enough fun; now it was time to finish this.

And enjoy his meal, however small of a snack it may be.

The human was lying down in the snow, no longer running. He eagerly prepared to begin his descent –

when a startouch elf stopped him. The man stepped in front of the dragon and the human, shielding its prone form with his body. Several other startouch elves stood behind it.

He splayed his wings to stop his descent.

What was this?

"Stop," the startouch elf shielding the human said. "There is no longer need for this."

No longer need….?

"The king of the dragons has ordered for this human to die. It has magic not meant for it, and so its punishment is death," he told the elf.

"This human no longer has magic," the startouch elf explained. "She gave up her arcanum. She is no longer guilty of that crime. There is no need to kill her, nor any other humans, for this."

He thought for a moment, flapping his wings steadily to keep himself in the air.

Part of him was disappointed; now this meant he couldn't eat the human and finish his game. The thought that he should have just gone ahead and killed it without dragging it on this long, and allowing the circumstances to change, briefly crossed his mind.

But, on the other foot, his orders were to kill the human that had inner magic.

If this human no longer had inner magic….

Then _now _what was he supposed to do?

Not to mention, startouch elves were old, and powerful, almost, but not quite, to the extent of the dragons. One knew better than to doubt or dismiss them carelessly.

"Very well," he said to the elf, not quite keeping a small grumble out of his voice. "I will speak to my king, tell him what you have told me."

The startouch elf nodded. "As you should."

He turned away from the human, then, and the startouch elves, and flew back to tell his king what had transpired and ask for new orders.

* * *

The conversation with the dragon over, the startouch elves turned to face Elarion.

Standing would take too much of an effort, but Elarion was able to roll over enough so she could get an at angle to fully see the elves standing in front of her, and not just a view of their boots and legs.

The way they glimmered in the night, a few feet in front of her and against the backdrop of the sparkling pillars, just like the stars themselves that they were named for, almost distracted Elarion from the cold and from the pain she was in.

Almost.

But it was at least enough for her to focus now, and her vision had cleared.

A man with dark, glittering hair spoke, his voice clear in the quiet air. "We have done as you have asked. The dragon will tell his king of what has been done. The dragons should no longer unleashed their wrath upon your people for having magic."

Despite the pain and the cold, relief washed over her. She would have gone weak with it if she thought she had any strength left to give. The tension in her muscles and the weight that felt like a hard rock in her chest released, and now Elarion felt like she could finally truly _breathe._

She had done it.

Her people, and her _family_, were safe. _She _was safe.

She took a deep breath, and sighed out a small, airy laugh, pushing through the pain that slight action caused her.

She had done it.

_They are safe. _

Elarion swallowed to help the dryness in her mouth and throat before speaking. "_Thank you_." Her voice was as quiet and airy as her laugh had been, but it still carried in the stillness. "_Thank you._"

The startouch elf who had spoken to her nodded.

Then, he turned away.

As did the others.

Wait…were they leaving?

Elarion tried to get up, but her arms couldn't push her weight. She was too weak. Pain spiked through her at the movement, in addition to the constant burning fire under skin. A shiver wracked her body, and she whimpered.

"Wait!" She slid one of her arms out toward the group of elves. Her voice cracked. "Wait! Please, don't leave me here!"

She would die in the cold, she knew. There was no way she would be able to climb down this mountain now and get to a town, not exhausted as she was. Even if she could find a way to start a fire without her magic, she didn't have the strength for _that _much, couldn't even drag herself to the trees for shelter, and her ripped clothes wouldn't protect her, especially not lying in the snow as she was.

"Please!"

The startouch elves turned to face her again.

* * *

The human girl lied in the snow, no doubt very weak from having her arcanum removed. The night would only grow colder, and she most likely would not survive in her state.

But her request was for her people, and they had done what she had asked. A noble sacrifice, on her part.

Besides….

One spoke, words only meant for among themselves, too low for the child to hear. "She is no longer a magical creature. She is not a concern to us."

Her magic, after all, had been the main reason they came to her in the first place.

But she no longer had magic. And for their part, they had involved themselves enough.

The elves didn't come closer. Didn't reach to help her.

"We did what you asked," one with pale robes repeated. Her tone was emotionless. "You are no longer a magical creature. Our duty is done."

The elves turned away again. But they didn't just walk away. They _faded. _It was as if they were pulling back their magic; their glowing auras melted away, and the ones with sparkling freckles on their dark complexion – the stars disappeared, turning black, then vanishing entirely.

As they faded, Elarion reached out again. "Wait!" she begged. "Don't leave me here!" A sob left her, and she realized she was crying. The tears running down her cheeks just made her colder, but did nothing to soothe the burning pain. "_Please!_ Ah…." A flare of pain in her throat cut off her pleading. She tried again, her quieter, and weaker from the effort speaking and reaching took. "_Please…._" Her voice cracked.

The startouch elves said nothing. They did not turn towards her again. They continued walking away, their forms fading.

"Please!"

Then, they were gone, disappearing into the black of night.

_No…._

With nothing there to reach out for, Elarion wilted in the snow. A whimpering sob tore from her, more tears trailing down her cheeks.

Having the strength to do nothing else, Elarion let herself cry.

* * *

_Elarion, her skin wrestled with death,_

_withered and cursed in the dark,_

_until the last star_

_reached out from afar_

_she touched him: a blazing gifted spark_

\- from Elarion's poem

* * *

"Tell me what you need, and I will help you."

\- Aaravos, Startouch Elf wizard and archmage

* * *

Narrowing eyes. A gaze watching from a distance. What…?

What was going on?

_What are they _doing_? _

Only the vague gist of it, but definitely something that should not be done.

A cumulation of events that had been on the edges of awareness, leading to now.

_A child…._

A tug on his heart.

* * *

It was cold.

How long she been lying here?

She didn't know. Time was nothing.

She'd stopped shivering some time ago.

Though she knew that was a bad sign, she was almost grateful. The violent shivering had just aggravated the fire in her muscles – a fire that gave her no warmth. Remnants of an inner warmth that she would never have again.

_Her arcanum was gone. Her magic was gone. She could never do magic again. _

An airy hiccup came from her chest. She didn't have the energy to sob. The tears simply ran down her face, slipping into the snow.

It was a wonder they didn't freeze on her cheeks, she thought.

She was thankful for it.

She considered, briefly, that freezing to death was probably better than being eaten and torn apart by a dragon.

Her wounds hurt.

Everything hurt.

…..

…..

Cold.

Elarion's eyes slowly blinked closed. Open.

Closed.

Open.

Blinking faster, to keep them open. To keep herself awake. She shouldn't sleep.

Her eyelids grew tired with the effort.

….

…It was okay. Her people were safe.

But no it wasn't, it _wasn't_ okay, shedidn'twanttodie shedidn't no please –!

Part of her screamed. She let that scream, that thought, fade into the distance in her mind, until, though it was still there, it was quieter, a background layer to her thoughts.

She had done what she needed to do.

That's what mattered.

_Mom…Eli…Aunt Sabra…I'm sorry. _

She wouldn't get to see them again.

She wondered what they thought had happened to her. If they would ever find out.

…

…

The snow did nothing to cool the simmering pain.

…

…

Cold.

Her limbs were numb.

…

Blink.

…

Blink.

…

She was hot now. Why was she hot?

She had too many clothes on. If she had the strength to move, she would've shoved off her boots.

…

…

Cold again?

…

It hurt.

…

Nothing.

…

Blink.

Her eyes slid closed.

…

She was so tired….

A heaved breath from aching lungs, a soft groan of pain.

…So…tired….

…tired….

Her eyes blinked open.

Then slid closed.

Then open, only slightly, staring at white.

She just wanted to sleep. A little sleep wouldn't hurt. Just a little.

Nothing. Her limbs were elsewhere, no cold, no hot.

Only her mind, and slowly blinking eyes.

Where her cheeks wet? Why?

Her thoughts were vague, distant impressions.

…So tired….

Her eyes slid closed. Her thoughts faded.

….

….

….

A rustling, a shifting in the snow. Right next to her ear.

The sound jolted Elarion back to awareness. A flash of fear coursed through her.

Clothes? Footsteps? The elves had returned –

Something long and thin pressed underneath her shoulders and lifted.

She sucked in a weak, frightened whimper, her heart hammering in her chest with panic.

No, no, they were going to hurt her again, they were going to –!

"Shhhh." A voice, deep and soothing. "I will help you."

Help. Not hurt.

The panic faded, and her heart calmed.

Something else long and thin slipped under her knees, and Elarion was lifted out of the snow and cradled against a warm, solid surface.

The movement, though gentle, aggravated the constant burning in her muscles, and she cried out at the searing pain, her eyes watering.

_Maybe if I had chosen Earth magic instead, _she thought vaguely, _it wouldn't hurt so much. _

"Shhhh…shh, shh, shh…." the voice hushed her softly. Her cheek and whole right side pressed against solid heat, like a furnace compared to the snow she had been lying in moments before. If Elarion had had the strength, she would have shivered at the sudden change in temperature.

Finally having real warmth, clouds of sleepiness drifted back into her mind, and she looked up as her eyes began their slow blinking.

Her gaze met the starry sky. The stars looked closer now, brighter for some reason.

The last thing she saw was the midnight star, the brightest star, shining down on her, blinking steadily like a heartbeat.

To a heartbeat.

The heartbeat under her ear that soothed her to sleep.


End file.
